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A  UTHOR : 


ATKINSON,  REV 
JOHN 


Jt.   K  ^K    R..^  M,^.j  ♦ 


HISTORY  OF  THE 
ORIGIN.... 


PL  A  CE : 


JERSEY  CITY 


DA  TE : 


1896 


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^'^•^     Atkinson,  Rev  Jalxn      1835- 

^^"^                History  of  tht  origin  of  the  Wesleyan  move- 
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MRNUFFICTURED   TO   flllM   STRNDflRDS 
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TTTSTOKT    <  ^F 


THE  ORIGIN  OF 


THE  VESLEYAN  MOVEMENT 


IN  AMERICA 


A^"D   or  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  THEEEIX  OF 


METHODISM 


BY 


JOHN    ATKINSON,    D.D. 


JEBSEY  CITY,  N.  J. 
WESLEYAN  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

1896 


Copyright,  18&6,  by 
JOHN   ATKINSON 


TROW  OIRECTOKY 

PR  s'!»(a  AND  BOOKBINDING  COMPANY 
NEW  YORK 


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^ 

^ 


PEEFATE 

The  story  related  in  this  volume  has  never  before  been 
told.     The  period  commencing  with  the  origin  uf  the  ^^  (  h- 
leyan  Movement  here,  and  closing  with  the  Conference  held 
in  Philadelphia  in  the  midsummer  of  1773,  was  a  momentous 
one.     The  events  of  that  time  were  pregnant  witli   destiny. 
The   struggles    and   victories   of   the   Wesleyan   heroes  and 
heroines  of  those  seven  years  made  possible  all  the  achieve- 
ments and  triumphs  of  Methodism   on   this  continent  that 
have  followed.     The  labors  and  successes  achieved  m  those 
years  had   their   culmination   in   a   General   Conference    in 
1773,   which    welded   the  scattered   societies   together   into 
one  system  and  established  rules  for  their  government.     It 
exercised  the  functions  of  the  Annual  Conference  also  by  re- 
ceiving returns  from  the  various  parts  of  the  field  nwl  ad- 
mitting and  appointing  preachers.     The  founding,  the  estab- 
lishing of  the  American  Methodist  Connection  was  accom- 
plished not  by  the  Christmas  Conference  of  1784,  but  by 
the  Philadelphia  Conference  of  1773.    The  Christmas  Confer- 
ence only  marked  a  further  stage  in  the  development  of  a 
connection  which  owed  its  existence  to  the  First  Conference. 
The  Conference  of  1784  was  convened  for  the  purpose  of 
providing  for  the  ordination  of  the  preachers  and  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  holy  sacraments  in  a  connection   wliich 
had  been  governed  for  eleven  years  by  the  Annual  Confer- 
ence, which  was  then  and  for  years  subsequent  to  the  Christ- 
mas Conference  a  legislative  body.     The  superintendencv  of 


CO 


5  J  f  ,j  D  O 


<^  V. 


IV 


PREFACE 


the  Eev.  John  Wesley  was  formally  accepted  by  the  First 
Conference,  and  it  was  as  formally  continued  and  proclaimed 
by  the  Christmas  Conference. 

This  volume,  therefore,  is  a  histoiy  of  the  origin  and  prog- 
ress of  the  Wesleyan  Movement  in  America  down  to  the 
formal  founding  of  the  Methodist  connection  therein.  It  is  a 
history  of  the  building  of  the  foundations  upon  which  Meth- 
odism so  firmly  stands,  and  probably  will  continue  to  stand  in 
America  until  the  earth  and  the  heavens  pass  away. 

The  material  of  my  narrative  was  derived  chiefly  from 
original  sources.  I  am  under  great  obligation  to  several 
persons  for  kind  assistance  and  words  of  encouragement. 
To  Miss  Katherine  Crooks,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  George 
11.  Crooks,  and  granddaughter  to  Bishop  Emory,  I  am  deeply 
indebted  for  her  very  competent  assistance  in  examining  a 
mass  of  important  manuscript  documents.  I  am  also  imder 
much  obligation  to  Professor  Lincoln  R.  Gibbs,  of  Boston 
University,  for  valuable  suggestions,  and  for  kind  offices  I 
owe  many  thanks  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wiggins  and  Mr.  McCul- 
lough,  of  Philadelphia.  The  Rev.  Dr.  H.  A.  Buttz,  presi- 
dent of  Drew  Theological  Seminary ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  and  Pro- 
fessor S.  F.  Upham,  of  the  same  seminary ;  Bishop  John  F. 
Hurst,  of  Washington,  D.  C. ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  D.  8.  Stephens, 
editor  of  the  Methodist  Recorder  ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  H.  Tuttle, 
of  Newark,  N.  J.;  the  Rev.  S.  E.  Ayars,  librarian  of  Drew 
Seminary,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Abel  Stevens,  the  justly  re- 
nowned historian  of  Methodism,  have  all  cheered  me  in  my 
labors  by  encouraging  words,  for  which  I  am  profoundly 
thankful. 

I  also  find  a  special  pleasure  in  acknowledging  my  par- 
ticular obligations  to  Mrs.  Lydia  A.  Clark,  of  Jersey  City, 
an  elect  lady,  who,  by  her  beautiful  character  and  saintly 
life,  has   for   nearly  threescore   years   been  an  ornament  to 


i 


PREFACE  ^ 

Methodism.  For  these  many  years  Mrs.  Clark  has  been  to 
me  and  mine  a  most  kind  and  generous  friend,  and  for  the 
encouragement  and  support  she  has  given  me  in  my  work  I 
shall  never  cease  to  feel  deeply  grateful. 

Two  facts  constrained  me  to  publish  what  I  have  herein 
written:   First— An  evangelical  body  which  has  attained  to 
such  vast  magnitude  already  as  has  the  Methodist,  ^Mth  prom- 
ise of  a  still  greater  development,  ought  to  be  in  possession  of 
all  the  important  facts  relating  to  its  origin  and  estal)lish- 
ment  in  this  land.     Second— I  believed  that  in  all  probability 
no  person  would  ever  attempt  the  difficult  labor  of  research 
which  I  had  performed,  without  which  the  work  could  not 
be  written.     Most  of  the  facts  in  this  volume  the  pubhc  does 
not  now  possess,  as  will  clearly  appear  from  the  following  as- 
sertions :  (1)  "  The  History  of  American  Methodism,"  by  the 
Rev.  Jesse  Lee,  which  is  very  valuable,  covers  the  above- 
mentioned  period  in  barely  twenty-six  pages.     (2)  "  The  His- 
tory of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  by  the  Rev.  Nathan 
Bangs,  D.D.,  also  a  valuable  work,  devotes  to  the  same  period 
almost  thirty-nine  pages.     (3)  In  the  eloquent  and  important 
"  History  of  the  Methodist   Episcopal  Church,'   hv  the  Rev. 
Abel  Stevens,  LL.D.,  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  pages 
are  allotted  to  this  period.     It  is  needless  to  say  that  in  the 
number  of  duodecimo  pages  devoted  to  this  great  period  of 
origin,  growth,  and  establishment  by  any  or  by  all  of  these 
historians,  it  would  be  in  vain  to  look  for  a  relation  in  even 
the  baldest  and  most  condensed  manner  of  the  events  which 
are  essential  to  an  adequate  comprehension  of  the  period  in 
question. 

The  long  labor  involved  in  the  production  of  this  volume 
perhaps  had  better  not  be  mentioned.  It,  however,  is  proper 
to  say  that  the  work  has  not  been  hurriedly  composed,  Int 
sufficient  time  has  been  given  to  it  to  justify  the  hope  that  it 


Tl 


PREFACE 


will  be  found  to  be  accurate  as  to  its  facts  and  assertions. 
The  labor  of  research  and  collation  has  been  prosecuted 
with  such  thoroughness  and  care  as  to  warrant  the  hope 
that  the  narrative  will  be  found  to  be  adequate  as  to  its 
matter.  The  writing,  rewriting,  revising,  and  carrying 
through  the  press  the  work  I  now  venture  to  send  forth  have 
occupied  more  than  half  a  decade  in  connection  with  my  pas- 
toral iiibors.  But  for  tiiu  i'aei  tiiut  i  enjoyed  a  delightful 
pastorate  of  five  years  in  West  Side  Avenue  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  with  a  very  kind, 
atfectionate,  and  indulgent  people,  where  the  exactions  of 
ministerial  labor  were  not  severe,  it  may  be  doubted  w^hether 
my  task  would  have  been  accomplished.  Amid  the  heats  of 
summer  and  the  frosts  of  winter ;  in  the  bright  spring-time 
and  iu  boinbre  autumn,  my  toil  upon  these  pages  has  gone 
on,  sometimes  for  a  few  minutes  or  hours  at  a  time,  some- 
times for  days  and  even  weeks,  almost  consecutively,  inspired 
by  the  hope  that  I  might  accomplish  for  the  Church  and  the 
country  that  which  I  knew  to  be  a  very  important  task  and  one 
wliicli  T  l)elieved  would  probably  not  be  done  by  another  pen. 
However  imperfectly  my  w  ork  has  been  done,  the  profound 
significance  and  often  thrilling  interest  of  the  facts  herein  set 
forth,  cannot,  I  am  sure,  fail  to  engage  the  attention  of  those 
who  read  with  a  desire  to  ascertain  how  was  planted  and 
rooted  in  this  great  continent  that  now  vast,  majestic,  and 
glorious  tree  w^hose  leaves  of  healing  are  fluttering  in  the 
breezes  of  every  sky  and  falling  upon  all  the  nations. 


John  Atkinson. 


Haverstraw-on-the-Hudson,  New  York, 
December  28,  1895. 


CONl'i:NTb. 


\ 


FIEST  PEKIOD. 

From  the  Beginning  of  the  Wesleyan  Movement  in 
America  to  the  Appointment  of  Mr.  Wesley^s  First 
Missionaries. 


*                                                    chapter   I.  PAGE 

The  Time  and  Place  of  the  Origin  of  the  Wesleyan  Move-        ^ 
MENT  IN  America, 


chapter  II. 

Testimonies  from  Primitive  Sources  concerning  the  Begin- 
ning OP  the  Wesleyan  Movement  in  America, 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Historic  German-Irish  Emigration, 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Barbara  Heck,  and  how  she  Began  the  Wesleyan  Movement 
in  America, 


34 


A  "■ 


41) 


CHAPTER  V. 
The  New  York  Heroine's  Identity,  Character,  and  Death,      59 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Labors  of  Embury  and  Webb  with  the  Society  in  New 
York   prior   to    1770,  and   the   Erection    of  John   Street 

77 
Preaching-house, 


CHAPTER  VII. 

From  the  Opening  of  Wesley'b  Chapel  in  New  York  to  the 
Appointment  op  Pilmoor  and  Boardman,  .... 


90 


M. 


Vlll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  Vm.  p^GK 
The  Arrival  op  Robert  Williams  and  his  Ministry  in  Am- 
erica IN  1769 


102 


SECOND  PEEIOD. 

From  the  Appointment  of  Wesley's  First  Missionaries 
TO  America  to  the  Close  of  the  First  American  Con- 
ference. 

chapter  I. 

The  Appointment  and  Arrival  of  Boardman  and  Pilmoor,    .    107 


CHAPTER  II. 
Boardman  anI)  Pilmoor  at  Work  in  America,     . 


.     134 


CHAPTER  III. 

Ministry  of  Pilmoor,  Webb,  and   Williams  in   Philadelphia 
IN  the  Fall  of  1769  —  Purchase  of  St.  George's,  .        .    147 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PiLMOOR's    First   Term    in    St.   George's,    Philadelphia;    as- 
sisted BY  Webb  and  Strawbridge,      ...  .        .     157 


.    178 


CHAPTER  V. 
Boardman  and  Pilmoor  together  in  New  York, 

CHAPTER   VI. 

Pii.Mooii.  Williams,  and  Whitefield  in  New  York,    . 

CHAPTER   VII. 
The  Philadelphia  Hf:RoiNE  and  First  Methodist  Deaconess  — 


.    191 


Mahv  Thorn,    . 


207 


CHAPTEE    VIII. 
Philip  Embury  —  His  Removal  from  New  York  City, 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Pilmoor's  Second  Period  of  Labuu  in  Puiladelphia, 


*  ditLhJ 


.    228 


I 


CONTENTS  IX 

CHAPTER  X. 

PAGE 

Labors  of  Pilmoor,  Webb,  and  Boardman  in  New  York,  and 
the  Resulting  Revival  in  1770-1771, 242 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Work  under  Pilmoor,  Boardman,  Webb,  Evans,  King,  and 
Williams  in  the  Spring  and  Summer  of  1771,         .        .        .    250 

CHAPTER  Xii. 

The  Outspread  of  Methodism  in  the  Country  Prior  to  the 
Arrival  of  Francis  Asbury, 266 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Arrival  of  Francis  Asbury, 280 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

From  Asbury's  Arrival  until  the  Departure  of  Pilmoor  to 
the  South, 296 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Pilmoor's  Journey  to  Maryland, 314 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Boardman  in  Boston  and  Wright  in  New  York,        .       .       .321 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Pilmoor's  Work  in  Maryland  in  1772, 384 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Origin  of  the  First  Methodist  Society  in  Baltimore,     .       .    388 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

Pilmoor  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  and  the  Founding 
OF  Methodism  in  Portsmouth  and  Norfolk,     ....    345 

CHAPTER   XX 

Pilmoor's  Journey  to  Charleston  and  Savannah,     .       .        .    363 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


PAGE 


Robert  Williams's  Forward  Movement  in  Virginia  in  1773,   .    375 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Methodism  in  the  Middle  Colonies  down  to  the  First  Con- 

.    385 


FERENCE,     . 


•  • 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

PiLMOOIi'S  PtETLRN   FROM  THE   SOUTH  TO  THE  NORTH,      . 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 


.    391 


The  Arrival  of  Rankin  and  Shadford  and  their  First  Labors 
IN  America, 404 

CHAPTER   XXV. 
The  First  Methodist  Conference  in  America,    ....    415 

THIRD   PERIOD. 

From  the  First  Conference  to  the  Departure  of 
boardman  and  pilmoor  to  england,   .      .      .      .   437 


\ 


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V 

1 

,,'i 


:\\ 


\i 


FIRST  PERIOD. 

From  the  Beginning  of  the  Wesleyan  Movement 
IN  America  to  the  Appointment  of  Mr.  \\  es- 
ley's  First  Missionaries. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  TIME  AND   PLACE   OF   THE   ORIGIN   OF  THE  WESLEYAN   MOVE- 
MENT IN  AMERICA. 

The  first  problem  which  tiiu  historian  of  the  Wesleyan 
Movement  in  America  encounters  is  of  n  threefold  nature, 
namely,  When,  Where,  and  How  did  it  begin  ? 

For  three-quarters  of  a  century  there  was  no  debate  about 
the  place  of  its  origin.  All  the  Methodist  historical  writers 
of  that  period,  with  possibly  one  exception,  concur  in  ascrib- 
ing the  beginning  of  the  movement  to  PhiHp  Embury  in  the 

city  of  New  York. 

The  exception,  if  it  be  an  exception,  to  the  unanimity 
of  the  primitive  authorities,  consists  of  two  words  found  in 
Bishop  Asbury's  Journal,  which  are,  "  and  Americar  That 
is  to  say,  the  bishop  was  at  Pipe  Creek,  holding  a  confer- 
ence in  May,  1801,  at  which  time  he  wrote  the  following 
sentence  :  "  Here  Mr.  Strawbridge  formed  the  first  society  in 
Maryland— an(^  Americar  Whether  he  designed  positively 
to  assert  that  the  first  Methodist  society  in  this  country  was 
founded  by  Mr.  Strawbridge,  or  whether  he  merely  meant  to 
suggest  that  his  society  was  possibly  the  first,  is  a  question  to 
which  I  shall  recur  a  little  later  in  this  narrative. 

The  latest  general  history  of  Methodism  in  America  is 
that  by  Bishop  McTyeire.     It  contains  this  assertion  :  ''  The 


HI 


2  THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 

people  who  were  destined  so  largely  to  cultivate  the  Western 
Continent  began  their  '  clearing '  in  1764  in  the  woods  of 
Frederick  (now  Carroll)  County,  Maryland."  McTyeire  also 
states  that  "  Robert  Strawbridge,  in  order  of  time,  talent, 
and  service  stands  at  the  head  of  the  noble  '  irregulars '  who 
founded  Arminian  Methodism  in  America."  These  statements 
respecting  Strawbridge's  alleged  priority  are  positive  and  im- 
qualified,  yet  I  do  not  hud  that  Bishop  McTyeire  offers  any 
adequate  proof  of  their  accuracy. 

^Ye  thus  see  that  the  question  when  and  where  the  Wes- 
leyan  movement  began  in  this  land  is  in  debate.  The  author 
of  the  lirst  elaborate  history  of  American  Methodism,  namely, 
the  Rev.  Jesse  Lee,  and  all  the  chief  authorities  except  Led- 
num  in  1859  and  McTyeire  in  1884,  date  its  origin  at  the 
year  1766.  As  the  earUer  writers  on  this  question  are  con- 
troverted by  later  historians,  I  find  it  necessary  in  begin- 
ning my  narrative  to  set  forth  the  facts  thereto  relating  as 
clearly  and  accurately  as  I  can,  in  order  to  show,  if  possible, 
tvhen  and  iohere  Methodism  originated  in  this  country. 

The  first  question,  then,  that  claims  inquiry  is  when  did 
Methodism  first  appear  in  America  ?  Bishop  McTyeire  says 
that  it  was  in  1764.  An  earlier  historian,  namely,  the  Eev. 
John  Lednum,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Rise  of  Methodism  in 
America,"  cites  passages  from  Dr.  Roberts  and  Dr.  Hamilton, 
both  of  Maryland,  in  support  of  a  still  earlier  date,  and  on 
the  authority  of  Dr.  Roberts,  he  says:  "We  are  assured 
that  as  soon  as  ^h.  Strawbridge  had  arranged  his  house, 
he  began  to  preach  in  it  as  early  as  1760."  If  either  state- 
ment is  correct,  then  the  primitive  traditions  and  authorities 
erroneously  attributed  the  origin  of  the  movement  to  Philip 
Eml)ury.  It  is  therefore  fair  to  ask  whether  the  statement 
of  Lednum  or  that  by  McTyeire  is  supported  by  adequate 

proof. 

An  article  on  ''  Early  Methodism  in  Maryland,  and  espe- 
cially in  Baltimore,"  by  the  late  Rev.  William  Hamilton,  was 
puliiished  in  the  Methodist  Quarterly  Review,  in  July,  1856. 
Of  Mr.  Strawbridge,  Dr.  Hamilton  in  that  article  says  :  "He 
preached  the  first  sermon,  formed  the  first  society,  and  built 


L."  » 


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THE  EVANS  DOCUMENT  o 

the  first  preaching-house  for  the  Methodists  in  Maryland, 
and  in  America,  being  three  years,  perhaps,  earlier  than  Wes- 
ley Chapel,  John  Street,  New  York."  It  is  further  stated,  in 
the  same  article,  that  "  a  society  consisting  of  twelve  or  fif- 
teen persons  was  formed  as  early  as  1763  or  1764,  and  soon 
after  a  place  of  worship  was  erected  about  a  mile  from  the 
residence  of  Mr.  Strawbridge."  Now,  did  Dr.  Hamilton  know 
by  indisputable  evidence  what  he  thus  affirmed  ? 

The  only  proof  which  he  adduces  in  support  of  the  above 
assertions  consists  of  the  two  noted  words  in  Asbur^^'s  Jour- 
nal, and  an  unsigned   document   whose  history  is  obscure, 
but  which,  says  Hamilton,  "  has  the  stamp  of  age  and  also  the 
appearance  of  being  torn  from  the  fly-sheet  of  a  Bible  or  from 
some  old  record  book."     This  fugitive  fragment  bears  the 
assertion  that  John  Evans,  "  about  the  year  1764,  embraced 
the  Methodist  religion  under  Mr.  Strawbridge."     This  state- 
ment, however,  was  not  written  by  John  Evans  himself,  but 
it  is  asserted  that  David  Evans  wrote  it,  though  the  writing 
is  without  his  signature.     Samuel  Evans  affixed  to  it  the  fol- 
lowing note,  which  he  signed,  namely,  ''  The  above  was  writ- 
ten by  my  father,  David  Evans." 

Dr.  Hamilton  says  that  John  Evans  was  one  of  Straw- 
bridge's  first  converts,  albeit  William  Fort  asserts  that  a  con- 
versation John  Evans  had  "  with  Mrs.  Strawbridge  resulted 
in  his  conversion  to  God."  ^    If  his  son  David  wrote  the  above 
statement  upon  a  fly-leaf  concerning  his  conversion,  why  did 
not  David  attest  it  by  his  signature?     It  is  not  known  how 
long  a  time  elapsed  after  the  writing  before  Samuel  Evans 
placed  his  voucher  to  its   authorship  upon  the  document. 
Neither  does  David  Evans  nor  Dr.  Hamilton  indicate  the 
nature  or  authenticity  of  the  data   upon  the  authority  of 
which  the  statement  was  recorded.     We  cannot  now  know 
whether  David  Evans,  in  thus  declaring  that  John  Evans  was 
converted  "  about  the  year  1764,"  acted  under  a  passing  im- 
pulse without  appropriate  deliberation,  and  Avrote  entirely 
from  memory,  or  whether  he  carefully  consulted  some  record 
or   tradition    of   questionable    ur    unquestionable   authority. 

*  Fort's  article  in  New  York  Christian  Advocate,  July  10,  1844. 


10 


4  THE  WESLEY  AN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 

Moreover,  no  word  is  said  respecting  the  character  and  habits 
of  David  Evans  whereby  an  opinion  can  be  formed  concern- 
ing his  habitual  care  or  carelessness  in  recording  facts,  or  of 
his  trustworthiness  as  a  witness. 

Furthermore,  David  Evans,  if  he  indited  the  passage  in 
question,  shows  therein  that  his  knowledge  of  the  time  of 
John  Evans's  conversion  w^as  not  exact.  Had  it  been  delinite 
he  would  scarcely  have  said  that  his  father  became  a  Metho- 
dist ''about  the  year  1764."  That  qualifying  word  ''about'' 
means  uncertainty  here,  and  indicates  that  whatever  may 
have  been  the  character  of  David  Evans  for  understanding, 
memory,  and  veracity,  he  did  not  know  the  year  in  which  his 
father  embraced  Methodism.  Not  knowing  when  that  event 
transpired,  he  uf  course  could  not  record  the  date  thereof, 
and  therefore  he  left  it  undetermined. 

The  article  in  the  Methodist  Quarterly  Bevietv,  in  which 
Dr.  Hamilton  cites  the  Evans  document,  demonstrates  the 
necessity  of  caution  iu  accepting  historical  statements  upon 
the  mere  assertion  of  any  man.  In  that  article  Hamilton  af- 
lirms  that  John  King  preached  in  Baltimore  "  in  the  winter 

or  spring  of  1770." 

Now  it  is  certain  that  this  date  is  incorrect.  John  King 
was  born  and  educated  in  England,  and  he  did  not  come  to 
America  until  after  both  the  winter  and  the  spring  of  1770 
had  passed.  Joseph  Pilmoor,  one  of  the  first  two  mission- 
aries that  Mr.  Wesley  sent  to  this  country,  says,  in  his 
Journal,  that  on  August  18,  1770,  John  King  called  upon 
him  in  Philadelphia,  and  "  said  he  was  just  arrived  from  Eu- 
rope." Thirteen  days  afterward  King  preached  a  trial  ser- 
mon before  the  leaders  in  Philadelphia,  and  Pilmoor  li- 
censed him  to  preach.  He  then  sent  King  into  Delaware, 
where  he  labored  successfully  in  the  gospel,  and  in  April, 
1771,  Pilmoor  found  him  still  there.  The  inference  is  inevi- 
table that  King  did  not  go  to  Maryland  until  after  the  close 
of  the  year  1770,  and  it  is  certain  that  he  was  not  in  Balti- 
more in  the  winter  or  spring  of  that  year. 

In  the  same  article  in  the  Revieiv  in  which  Dr.  Hamilton 
asserts  that  the  lirst  Methodist  society  in  America  was  formed 


.U 


J' 


I 


( .' 


ii 


!i  ■ 


I;' 


ERRORS   IN   THE  MARYLAND   TRADITIONS  5 

by  Eobert  Strawbridge,  he  Ukewise  declares  that  "  early  in 
the  summer  of  1770  Mr.  Pilmoor  arrived  in  Maryland,  came 
to  Baltimore,  and  addressed  the  people  once  or  twice,  stand- 
ing on  the  sidewalk  as  they  came  out  of  St.  Paul's  Chui'ch 

after  morning  service." 

We  are  now  able  to  correct  the  erroneous  date  in  this  pas- 
sage. Belying  confidently  upon  such  information  as  he  had 
obtained,  Dr.  Hamilton  declared  unqualifiedly  that  Pilmoor 
was  in  Maryland  and  also  in  Baltimore  early  in  the  summer 
of  1770 ;  whereas  the  whole  of  that  summer  was  spent  by 
Pilmoor'  as  his  Journal  attests,  in  the  cities  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia,  save  as  he  made  brief  preaching  visits  to 
rural  places  contiguous  thereto.  Nor  was  he  in  Baltimore  at 
any  time  in  1770.  It  was  not  until  early  in  the  summer 
(June  4)  of  1772  that  he  looked  upon  Maryland  for  the  first 
time.  All  this  will  more  fully  appear  in  the  further  develop- 
ment of  our  narrative.  Hamilton,  then,  was  in  eiTor  re- 
specting both  King  and  Pilmoor,  as  to  the  time  of  their 
appearance  in  Baltimore,  and  in  the  case  of  Pilmoor's  visit 
to  Maryland  and  Baltimore  he  fell  two  years  short  of  ac- 
curacy. . 

Other  errors  are  apparent  in  these  Maryland  traditions. 
In  the  Eev.  William  Fort's  article  on  the  "  First  Log  Meet- 
ing-House,"  in  the  New  York  Christian  Advocate  of  July  10, 
1844,  the  assertion  that  "  Methodism  was  operating  in  Mary- 
land several  years  before  Embury  crossed  the  Atlantic,"  is 
clearly  false.  *  In  a  petition  for  a  grant  of  land,  addressed  by 
Philip  Embury  and  twenty-four  other  gentlemen  to  the  Hon. 
Robert  Monkton,  Governor  of  the  Province  of  New  York, 
and  dated  Febniary  1,  1763,  it  is  declared  that  about  two 
and  a  half  years  prior  to  that  date  the  petitioners  arrived  m 
New  York.  This  establishes  the  fact  that  Embury  reached 
the  American  shore  about  August,  1760.  According  to  Mr. 
Fort's  unqualified  assertion,  however,  Methodism  was  planted 
in  Maryland  several  years  before  that  time.  Another  bald 
error  in  Mr.  Fort's  article  is  his  statement  that  Strawbridge 
came  not  from  Ireland,  but  that  he  "  was  from  Yorkshire  in 
England."    It  is  as  certain  that  Strawbridge  emigrated  from 


6 


THE   WESLEYAX   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


Ireland  to  America  as  it  is  that  he  settled  and  preached  in 
Maryland. 

Thus  we  see  how  seriously  the  traditions  concerning 
Strawbridge  and  events  in  the  primitive  Methodist  history  of 
Marvland  are  blemished  bv  errors.  The  Evans  document, 
on  which  Hamilton  fully  relies  as  a  sure  authority,  does  not 
pretend  to  be  exact.  Fort,  on  the  contrary,  is  positive  in  his 
statements  respecting  Strawbridge,  and  yet  they  are  totally 
and  transparently  erroneous.  Now,  if  he  so  missed  the  truth 
in  his  attempt  to  illuminate  a  somewhate  obscure  history, 
and  if  Dr.  Hamilton  failed  so  signally  in  accuracy  in  the 
statements  he  made  so  dogmatically  concerning  the  time  that 
King  and  Pilmoor  first  preached  in  Baltimore,  may  not 
David  Evans  have  erred  also  in  saying  that  his  father's  con- 
version occurred  "  about  1764?  "  Is  it  possible  in  reason  to 
accept  such  a  document,  undated  and  unsigned  by  the  writer, 
and  upon  it  ground  the  conclusion  that  Strawbridge's  work 
preceded  Embury's  by  the  space  of  two  years  ? 

In  the  settlement  of  the  question  of  ivhen  the  Wesleyan 
movement  began  in  America  everything  depends  upon  the 
precision  and  certainty  of  dates.  The  subject  is  chronologi- 
cal ;  and  neither  logic  nor  rhetoric  can  illumine  it  except  so 
far  as  they  may  dissipate  obscurities,  expose  errors,  and  bring 
into  view  the  tnitli  concerning  the  dates.  At  the  best,  the 
alleged  date  of  the  conversion  of  John  Evans  is  based  upon 
a  tradition  which  at  some  unknown  time  was  recorded  upon 
a  fugitive  fly-leaf  by  some  one  whom  Samuel  Evans  asserts 
was  his  father,  namely,  David  Evans.  Yet  this  undated,  un- 
signed, indefinite  fragment  is  so  esteemed  by  Dr.  Hamilton 
that  he  declares  that  it  *'  settles,  we  think,  the  true  origin  of 
Methodism  in  America."  Mr.  Crook  in  fairness  says :  "  It 
is  more  than  probable  that  this  1764  was  1767  or  1768,  as 
the  phrase  'about  the  year  1764'  may  include  a  period  of 
three  or  four  years."  *  As  a  guide  in  the  determination  of 
the  time  of  the  beginning  of  the  ministerial  work  of  Straw- 
bridge  in  Maryland,  I  regard  the  Evans  document  as  with- 

*  Ireland  and  the  Centenary    of  American  Methodism,  by  the  Rev.   William 
Crook,  p.  158. 


ft 

hi 


k\ 


r 


M 


ASBURY's   INACCURACY   AS   A   HISTORIAN  7 

out  value.  At  the  best  it  fails  to  give  an  exact  date,  and  there 
is  nothing  to  show  that  the  time  of  John  Evans's  conversion, 
which  it  suggests  was  "about  1764,"  was  not  the  mere  guess 

of  the  writer.  .         . 

The  next  piece  of  evidence  which  Dr.  Hamilton  cited  m 
support  of  the  alleged  Maryland  origin  of  American  Meth- 
odism consists  of  two  words  in  italics  in  Bishop  Anbury  s 
Journal,  namely-"  and  Americar  In  an  earlier  edition  ot 
the  Journal  both  words  were  italicized,  whereas  m  the  cur- 
rent edition  only  the  word  "  America"  is  in  italics. 

The  history  of  that  couplet  of  words  seems  to  have  been 
this-that  in  ^  the  month  of  May,  1801,  the  bishop  was  at 
Pipe  Creek  holding  a  Conference.  He  was  upon  the  ground 
where  the  local  preacher  from  Ireland  achieved  his  fame  as 
the  first  Methodist  evangelist  in  Maryland.  There  it  is  likely 
Asbury  heard  statements  concerning  the  work  of  Strawbridge. 
Then  he  wrote  these  words,  to  wit :  "Here  Mr.  Strawbridge 
formed  the  first  society  in  Maryland— aiicZ  Americar 

In  determining  the  degree  of  importance  that  should  be 
attached  to  this  record  of  Asbury  in  five  syllables,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  bring  into  view  a  few  facts  respecting  his  want  of  ac- 
curacy as  a  historian. 

The  Minutes  of  the  American  Methodist  Conferences  were 
published  in  a  volume  in  1794.     The  preface  thereto  is  un- 
signed, but  is  dated  "  Botetourt,  May  24, 1794."     Asbury,  be- 
ing then  in  Botetourt  County,  Ya.,  says  in  his  Journal  that  on 
the  day  prior  to  that  date  he  was  "  preparing  the  Minutes." 
Obviously,  then,  he  edited  the  volume.     In  it  he  gave  June, 
1773,  as  the  time  of  the  first  Conference,  whereas  it  sat  July 
14-1(3,  1773.     He  was  in  that  historic  body  and  recorded  its 
date  correctly  in  his  Journal,  which  was  published  before  the 
volume  in  question.     Therefore,  he  could  readily  have  found 
the  real  date.    The  incorrect  date  of  the  first  Conference  which 
he  sent  forth  yet  stands  upon  aU  the  pubhshed  Minutes  thereof. 
An  example  of  Bishop  Asbury's  vagueness  as  a  narrator 
of  Methodist  history  appears  in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to 
the  Eev.  Stith  Mead,  of  Virginia,  July  30,  1807,  in  which  he 
says  •  "  Methodism  began  in  America  1769  or  1 770  but  chiefly ; 


i 


8 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN    AMERICA 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH   OF   1787 


9. 


as  very  little  was  done  till  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1771 
except  a  small  beginning  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia." 
I  have  given  not  only  the  exact  words  but  the  punctuation 
also  of  this  passage  from  the  original  autograph  manuscript. 
The  passage  is  at  least  singular  and  it  scarcely  fulfils  the  re- 
quirements of  exact  and  veracious  history. 

In  this  communication  the  bishop  is  as  silent  respecting 
Maryland  as  if  there  had  been  no  Methodism  within  its 
borders  in  ''  the  latter  end  of  1771  ; "  whereas  the  movement 
was  then  making  important  progress  there,  and  less  than 
two  years  later  the  membership  of  that  province  was  reported 
by  the  first  American  Conference  to  be  five  hundred,  which 
was  nearly  equal  to  that  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  com- 
bined, lie  also  seems  to  say  here  that  Methodism  did  not 
begin  in  America  until  1769  or  later. 

There  is  an  important  omission  by  Asbury  in  his  Journal 
in  1803,  where  he  essayed  to  record  the  number  of  Methodists 
that  were  in  the  country  in  the  year  of  his  arrival.  "  In 
1771,  he  writes,  "there  were  about  three  hundred  Methodists 
in  New  York,  two  Imudred  and  fifty  in  Philadelphia,  and  a 
few  in  Jersey."  There  is  no  intimation  here  of  the  existence 
of  any  Methodists  in  Maryland,  though  there  were  in  that 
province  at  that  time  a  fair  proportion  of  the  total  number  ni 
the  country.  By  this  omission  Asbury  conveyed  the  idea 
that  there  were  no  Methodists  south  of  New  Jersey  in  1771 
almost  as  clearly  as  though  he  had  stated  it  verbally.  In 
the  field  Bishop  Asbury  was  a  hero  and  a  giant.  He  knew 
men  and  could  lead  them.  His  hand  could  gi'asp  and  shape 
the  developing  Methodism  of  a  continent ;  but  in  writing 
details  of  history  he  was  not  masterful.  Nicholas  Snethen, 
once  his  travelling  companion,  in  a  funeral  discourse  on 
Asbury  says,  *'  his  talent  was  almost  wholly  executive.  In 
a  judicial  or  legislative  capacity  he  seemed  not  to  excel." 
Neither  did  he  excel  as  a  writer  of  historic  facts. 

A  brief  history  of  Methodism  in  the  United  States 
appeared  in  tlie  "  Discipline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,"  in  the  year  1787. 

The  Kev.  Jesse  Lee  says  that  Asbury  issued  that  particu- 


lar edition  of  the  Discipline,^  and  therefore  we  are  war- 
ranted in  believing  that  he  wrote  or  at  least  sanctioned  the 
historical  sketch  which  was  inserted  therein.  That  sketch 
is  in  the  following  words,  to  wit : 

"  Question  2.  What  was  the  rise  of  Methodism,  so  called, 

in  America? 

''Ansiver.  During  the  space  of  thirty  years  past  certain 
persons,  members  of  the  society,  emigrated  from  England 
and  Ireland  and  settled  in  various  parts  of  this  country. 
About  twenty  years  ago  Philip  Embury,  a  local  preacher  from 
Ireland,  began  to  preach  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  formed 
a  society  of  his  own  countrymen  and  the  citizens.  About  the 
same  time  Robert  Strawbridge,  a  local  preacher  from  Ireland, 
settled  in  Frederick  County,  in  the  State  of  Maryland,  and 
preaching  there  formed  some  societies.  In  1769,  Richard 
Boardman  and  Joseph  Pilmoor  came  to  New  York,  who  were 
the  first  regular  Methodist  preachers  on  the  Continent.  In 
the  latter  end  of  the  year  1771  Francis  Asbury  and  Richard 
Wright  of  the  same  order  came  over." 

This  short  narrative  was  designed  to  instruct  the  Ameri- 
can Methodists  concerning  the  origin  of  their  church.  It 
was  printed,  with  Bishop  Asbury's  authority,  in  their  "  Book 
of  Discipline."  It  was  written,  too,  at  an  early  day,  ''about 
tioenty  years;'  after  the  beginning  of  Methodism  in  the  coun- 
try. 

At  that  time  it  was  easy  to  acquire  a  knowledge  ut 
the  precise  year  of  its  origin,  for  witnesses  thereof  were 
living  with  fresh  and  vivid  memories  of  the  time,  the 
scenes,  and  the  agencies  therein  concerned.  Asbury  himself 
had  been  personally  familiar  with  some  of  those  witnesses, 
and  with  the  localities  to  which  he  refers,  for  about  sixteen 
years.     He  knew  Robert  Strawbridge,  and  associated  with 

*  Lee  in  his  History  of  the  Methodists  (p.  127)  says  :  "  In  the  course  of  this  year 
ri787]  Mr.  Asbury  reprinted  the  General  Minutes,  but  in  a  different  form  from  what 
they  were  before.     The  title  of  this  pamphlet  was,  A  Form  of  Discipline  for  the 
Ministers,  Preachers,  and  Members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America, 
etc. 


• 


10 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


him  for  about  a  decade  in  labor.  Had  he  been  concerned 
about  the  accuracy  of  the  historic  resume  which  he  gave  to  his 
church  ill  official  form  in  1787,  he  surely  might  have  as- 
certained and  recorded  not  only  the  precise  year  in  which 
Embury  began  to  preach  in  New  York,  but  also  the  year  of 
the  commencement  of  the  evangelical  labors  of  Strawbridge 
in  Maryland.  It  seems,  however,  that  he  did  not  appreciate 
the  \\vA\  importance  of  definite  dates  in  a  narrative  of  histori- 
cal events  of  such  signal  interest  and  moment.  So  without 
taking  the  trouble  to  give  to  his  people  precise  information 
of  the  time  of  the  origin  of  their  cause,  he  merely  said  : 
"  About  twenty  years  ago,  Philip  Embury  began  to  preach  in 
the  city  of  New  York  and  formed  a  society.  About  the  same 
time  Eobert  Strawbridge  settled  in  Frederick  County,"  etc. 
From  such  indefinite  statements  no  student  of  Methodism 
could  determine  the  year  of  its  beginning  in  America. 

Furthermore,  this  sketch  in  the  Discipline  of  1787  is  not 
only  wantinj]j  in  exactness  with  respect  to  dates,  but  it  is  also, 
in  at  least  one  particular,  distinctly  inaccurate.  That  inaccu- 
racy I  will  now  point  out. 

Boardman  and  Pilmoor  came  to  America  in  17G9,  but  they 
did  not  both  reach  New  York  in  that  year.  They  disem- 
barked at  Gloucester  Point,  New  Jersey,  October  21,  1769,"^ 
and  after  they  had  "rested  a  little  while  at  a  public-house" 
they  walked  to  Philadelphia.  In  that  city  Boardman  opened 
their  mission  by  a  sermon  on  the  Call  of  Abraham,  and  soon 
departed  for  New  York.  Pilmoor  remained  the  rest  of  the 
autumn  and  all  of  the  ensuing  winter  in  Philadelphia,  and 
did  not  go  to  New  York  at  all  in  1769.  Yet  in  the  official 
historical  sketch  in  the  Discipline,  for  which  Bishop  Asbury 
was  responsible  and  which  he  probably  wrote,  it  is  said  that 
tliev  ''came  to  New  York"  in  1769.  There  is  not  an  intima- 
tion  in  that  sketch  that  they  came  directly  from  London  to 
Philadelphia,  which  was  the  fact ;  nor  that  upon  their  arrival 
either  of  them  did  any  service  in  the  latter  city,  whereas  Pil- 
moor remained  and  spent  five  months  of  successful  labor 

*  Not  on  October  24th  of  that  year,  as  Lee  and  later  Methodist  historians  uni- 
formly assert. 


THE   COMING   OF   THE    FIRST    MISSIOXARIES 


11 


there.  Philadelphia  was  a  no  less  important  arena  of  the 
growing  Wesleyan  cause  than  New  York,  and  it  was  at  that 
time  the  more  populous  town.  Boardman,  as  we  have  just 
seen,  began  his  American  labors  in  Philadelphia,  yet  the  his- 
tory of  Methodism  printed  in  the  Discipline  in  1787  does  not 
even  mention  that  city  in  connection  with  his  arrival  or 
his  work,  but  says,  "  In  1769  Richard  Boardman  and  Joseph 
Pilmoor  came  to  New  York:"  If  existing  records,  inchid- 
ing  Joseph  Pilmoor's  manuscripts,  did  not  show  the  in- 
accuracy of  that  statement,  the  historical  student  would  be 
compelled  to  believe  that  both  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  came 
from  England  direct  to  New  York  in  1769,  and  that  both 
began  their  mission  in  that  city  at  once  ;  Avhereas  they  both 
preached  in  Philadelphia  before  jDroceeding  to  New  York. 

Now  Francis  Asbury  came  to  America  two  years  after 
Boardman  and  Pilmoor.  With  them  he  was  associated  in 
ministerial  labor.  AYhen  this  erroneous  statement  was  pub- 
lished by  him  there  w^ere  Methodists  in  Philadelphia  who  re- 
membered the  arrival  of  the  missionaries  there,  and  Pilmoor 
himself  was  then  residing  in  or  near  that  city.  Indeed,  m 
the  funeral  discourse  preached  by  Ezekiel  Cooper  on  Bishop 
Asbury,  after  his  death  in  1816,  there  is  an  allusion  to  the 
fact  that  Mr.  Pilmoor  was  at  that  time  residing  in  Philadel- 
phia. The  sources  of  accurate  information  concerning  the 
arrival  of  these  first  two  Wesleyan  missionaries  were  acces- 
sible to  Asbury.  Yet  the  first  piece  of  Methodist  history 
which  emanated  from  his  pen  is  marred  not  only  by  inexact- 
ness, but  also  by  error  respecting  them.  This  seems  to  have 
been  attributable  to  his  indifference  to,  or  want  of  apprecia- 
tion of,  the  importance  of  precision  and  accuracy  in  historical 
statements.  Apparently  he  was  wanting  in  what  has  been 
called  the  "  historic  sense." 

The  short  history  of  the  origin  of  the  Wesleyan  cause  in 
this  country,  which  was  first  published  in  the  "  Discipline  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church"  in  the  year  1787,  continued 
to  appear  in  the  subsequent  annual  editions  of  that  official 
publication  until  1791.  A  history  of  the  denomination  was 
prefixed  to  the  edition  of  the  Discipline  of  the  latter  year, 


12 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH   OF  1791 


13 


which  was  somewhat  more  full  and  definite  than  that  which 
was  published  in  the  four  preceding  editions.  The  state- 
ments in  the  historical  sketch  of  1787  are  retained  in  that  of 

1791,  including  the  inaccuracy  respecting  Boardman  and 
Pilmoor,  with  the  addition  of  a  date  of  the  beginning  of 
Embury's  work.  Other  matters  also  are  inserted.  This 
document  again  appeared  unchanged   in   the  Discipline  of 

1792,  where  it  is  embodied  in  the  prefatory  address  of  Bishops 
Coke  and  Asbury,  to  which  their  names  are  affixed.  Thus 
they  both  gave  to  it  their  personal  and  ofticial  sanction  and 
became  avowedly  responsible  for  the  statements  it  contains. 
It  did  not  appear  in  the  Discipline  entire  after  1792.  Dr. 
Stevens  erroneously  says  that  it  appeared  in  the  Discipline 
of  1790."^  I  shall  here  reproduce  it  verbatim,  as  it  appeared 
in  the  "  Methodist  Episcopal  Discipline  "  in  1791,  and  again, 
without  change,  in  1792. 

"  During  the  space  of  thirty  years  past  certain  persons, 
members  of  the  society,  emigrated  from  England  and  Ireland 
and  settled  in  various  parts  of  this  country.  In  the  latter  end 
of  the  year  1766  Phillip  Embury,  a  local  preacher  from  Ire- 
land, began  to  preach  in  the  city  of  New  York  and  formed  a 
society  of  his  own  countrymen  and  the  citizens.  In  the  same 
year  Thomas  Webb  preached  in  a  hired  room  near  the  bar- 
racks, and  in  the  year  1767  the  rigging-house  was  occupied. 
About  the  same  time  Robert  Strawbridge,  a  local  preacher 
from  Ireland,  settled  in  Frederick  County,  Maryland,  and 
preaching  there  formed  some  societies.  The  first  Methodist 
church  in  New  York  was  built  in  1768  or  1769,  and  in  1769 
Richard  Boardman  and  Joseph  Pilmoor  came  to  New  York. 
In  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1771  Francis  Asbury  and  Rich- 
ard Wright,  of  the  same  order,  came  over. 

"  And  we  humblv  believe  that  God's  design  in  raising  up 
preachers  called  Methodists  in  America  was  to  reform  the 
continent,  and  spread  scriptural  holiness  over  these  lands. 
As  a  proof  hereof  we  have  seen  in  the  space  of  twenty-two 
years  a  great  and    glorious  work    of  God   from  New  York, 

*  Stevens's  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  vol.  1.,  p.  71. 


H 


through  the  Jersies,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North 
and  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  and  also  the  extremities  of 
the  western  settlements." 

A  degree  of  indefiniteness  and  of  inaccuracy  also  appears  in 
this  revised  and  expanded  narrative.     A  notable  example  of 
inexactness  is  the  time  to  which  it  assigns  the  erection  of  the 
first   Methodist  church   in  New  York.     It  is  inconceivable 
that  it  was  not  easily  possible  for  Francis  Asbury  to  ascer- 
tain in  1791  the  year  in  which  that  edifice  arose.     He  had 
preached  in  it  in  the  latter  part  of  1771.     During  the  twenty 
years  following  he  was  much  in  New  York ;  yet  at  the  end  of 
that  period  he  was  uncertain  whether  the  John  Street  Church 
was  built  in  1768  or  in  1769.    He  was  giving  to  the  members 
and  preachers  of  the  church  of  which  he  was  superintendent 
a  narration  of  the  most  prominent  events  in  its  history  ;  yet 
he  failed  to  ascertain  for  them  the  year  in  which  the  first 
public  edifice  of  the  denomination  was  built.    Nor  does  it  ap- 
pear that  when  a  year  had  passed  after  the  publication  of  this 
ofticial  history  of  Methodism  that  Bishop  Asbury  had  reached 
any  more  definite  knowledge,  for  the  same  inexactness  re- 
specting the  time  of  the  church's  erection  is  found  in  the 
same  document  in  the  Discipline  of  1792. 

Now  this  historic  sketch  must  have  been  drawn  np  within 
twenty-three  years  after  the  church  in  New  York  was  built, 
when  the  memory  of  its  construction  was  yet  vivid  in  many 
minds.  Numbers  of  people  were  then  living  in  the  city 
who  saw  its  walls  arise.  Its  erection  was  noted  by  both  its 
friends  and  its  foes.  A  goodly  number  of  the  citizens  of 
New  York,  irrespective  of  denominational  afiiliation,  contrib- 
uted to  the  funds  for  the  building  ;  and  many  of  these  must 
have  been  in  active  life  when  the  Discipline  of  1791  was 
issued.  Had  he  appreciated  in  a  sufficient  degree  the  im- 
portance of  exact  and  accurate  historical  writing,  Asbury 
would  surely  have  informed  both  himself  and  the  readers  of 
the  Discipline  concerning  the  year  in  which  the  potential 
event  of  the  erection  of  the  first  Methodist  preaching-house 
in  New  York  occurred. 


'I    > 

11 


14 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


asbury's  two  italicized  words 


15 


Thus  much  have  we  ascertained  respecting  Asbury's  lack 
of  precision  and  accuracy  in  his  historical  writings.  In  this 
critical  examination  of  important  documents  I  have  nothing 
to  do  with  individuals  as  such,  nor  with  the  reverence  which 
is  worthily  bestowed  upon  venerable  and  renowned  names. 
It  is  my  office  as  a  historian  to  deal  justly  and  impartially 
with  facts  as  I  find  them.  Only  the  judicial  temper  befits  a 
writer  of  history,  whose  first  and  highest  duty  it  is,  at  what- 
ever cost  of  time  or  pains  or  personal  prepossessions,  to  as- 
certain the  truth  and  accurately  state  it.  The  fact  that  As- 
bury  was  always  so  busy  in  the  field  where  he  was  making 
histor}%  explains  in  some  degree  his  want  of  correctness  as  a 
historical  writer.  It  may  be  said  that  such  faults  as  I  have 
pointed  out  in  these  primitive  and  official  documents  are 
trivial.  I  must  insist  that  this  is  not  so,  because  where  error 
and  truth  are  intermingled  in  any  historical  work  it  cannot  be 
accepted  as  reliable.  Absolute  trustworthiness  is  demanded 
in  historic  narrative;  but  this  cannot  be  secured  except  by 
the  most  vigilant  and  rigid  endeavor  to  exclude  all  inaccura- 
cies respecting  dates,  places,  persons,  and  events.  History,  if 
written  without  due  regard  to  truth,  degenerates  into  romance. 

With  respect  to  the  first  two  preachers  sent  by  the  founder 
of  Methodism  to  this  country,  both  of  whom  gave  more  than 
four  years  of  devoted  service  here,  it  is  surely  of  some  impor- 
tance that  any  official  account  of  their  coming  and  of  their 
entrance  upon  their  mission  should  be  accurate.  The  humble 
movement  which  has  attained  to  proportions  so  vast,  and 
which  they  did  so  much  to  develop,  requires  no  less  than 
this.  If  told  at  all  the  story  of  their  coming  and  of  the  com- 
mencement of  their  work  should  be  told  correctly.  Neither 
is  it  a  matter  of  indifference  that  in  such  a  narrative  the  pre- 
cise time  when  the  first  Wesley  an  chapel  was  built  in  the 
American  metropolis  and  continent  should  be  given,  yet  had 
we  now  to  rely  exclusively  for  our  knowledge  thereof  upon 
the  history  that  was  put  into  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Dis- 
cipline by  Bishop  Asbury  in  1791  and  1792,  we  should  not 
know  whether  that  achievement  was  accomplished  in  1768  or 
in  1769.     Moreover,  had  Asbury  included  in  that  history  the 


U 


particulars  and  the  date  of  Strawbridge's  first  labors  in  Mary- 
land, the  data  for  which  were  accessible  through  Mrs.  Straw- 
bridge,  who  was  alive  in  all  those  years  from  1787  to  1792, 
he  would  have  determined  whether  the  Maryland  or  the  New 
York  society  was  formed  first  beyond  all  disputation.  He 
did  not  choose  to  do  this.  Therefore  the  year  in  which 
Strawbridge  first  preached  in  the  land  of  the  Chesapeake  is 
and  must  always  be  unknown. 

The  significant  fact  intended  to  be  shown  by  this  review  of 
some    historical    writings  of  Bishop  Asbury    has  now  been 
established,  namely,  that  he  did  not  always  attain  to  precision 
and  accuracy  in  relating  historic  events.     Therefore  his  brief 
and  uncircumstantial  journalistic  statement,  if  statement  it 
be,  that  Strawbridge  formed  the  first  society  of  Methodists 
in  America  at  Pipe  Creek,  cannot  be  accepted  as  the  conclu- 
sion of  a  thoroughly  painstaking  and  uniformly  correct  his- 
torical authority.     We  have  seen  that  in  his  naiTation  of  sig- 
nificant events  in  American  Methodist  history  Asbury  faltered 
in  a  noticeable  degree  both  as  to  exactness  and  correctness. 
May  he  not  then,  from  lack  of  sufficient  investigation,  have 
been  wanting  in  clear  and  exact  knowledge  of  the  facts  in  the 
case  when  he  struck  from  his  pen  the  two  words  in  his  Jour- 
nal which  Dr.  William  Hamilton  and  others  have  understood 
as  affirming  the  antecedence  of  the  Maryland  Methodist  so- 
ciety ?     If  the  bishop  meant  so  to  affirm,  it  is  remarkable 
that  in  doing  it  he  should  have  employed  only  ten  letters  of 
the  alphabet.     The  use  of  a  few  more  words  might  have  dis- 
persed the  ambiguity  of  the  passage.     I,  at  least,  cannot  be 
sure  whether  Asbury  meant  by  these  two  words  to  declare  or 
to  interrogate— whether  he  designed  to  say  that  he  was  cer- 
tain, or  that  he  was  in  doubt  about  the  priority  of  the  society 
of  Strawbridge.     This,  too,  is  about  the  way  an  authority, 
Mr.  Seaman,  views  the  matter,  as  is  shown  in  his  "  Annals  of 
Methodism  in  New  York  City." 

But  granting  that  Bishop  Asbury  intended  in  the  two 
words  which  we  are  now  considering  to  declare  the  priority 
of  the  Maryland  society,  he  fails  to  indicate  any  proof  of  the 
correctness  of  his  declaration.     AYe  surely  then  are  entitled 


16 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMEKICA 


to  oppose  to  the  unproven  assertion  of  one  early  and  eminent 
Methodist  historical  writer  the  assertion  of  another  early, 
and  as  a  Methodist  historian  an  even  more  eminent,  writer. 
Therefore  I  shall  set  against  the  Journal  of  Francis  Asbury, 
in  1801,  the  Journal  of  Jesse  Lee  of  that  very  year. 

Jesse  Lee  was  the  first  writer  who  gave  to  the  people  an 
elaborate  history  of  American  Methodism.     He  was  one  of 
the   chief   preachers    of   the    denomination   throughout  the 
period  of  Asbury's  episcopal  career.     He  travelled,  as  he  in- 
forms us,  "from  St.^  Mary's  Kiver  in  Georgia  to  Passama- 
quoddy  Bay  in  Maine."     He  was  the  founder  of  Methodism 
in  New  England.     He  was  almost  elected  a  bishop  by  the 
General  Conference  of  1800.     His  journalistic  record  of  his 
wide  wanderings  and  fruitful   labors  was  destroyed  in  the 
conflagration   of  the  Book  Concern  in  New  York  in  1836. 
Before  that  catastrophe  the  "  Memoirs  of  Lee,"  by  the  Eev. 
Manton  Thrift,  came  from  the  press.     Numerous  passages  in 
Lee's  Journal  are  preserved  in  that  biography.     One  of  those 
passages  is  an  account  of  the  origin  of  Methodism  in  New 
York,'^which  Lee  recorded  while  he  was  employed  in  minis- 
terial service  in  that  city, in  the  early  part  of  1801.     We  have 
already  seen  what  Asbury  wrote  at  Pipe  Creek  in  1801 ;  we 
shall  now  bring  into  view  what  Lee  wrote  in  New  York  early 
in  the  same  year.     Lee  says  : 

"  I  will  here  set  down  an  account  of  the  beginning  of 
Methodism  in  the  city  of  New  York,  which  was  the  first  so- 
ciety formed  in  the  United  States.  This  society  was  formed 
by  Philip  Embury,  from  Ireland,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1766,  when  a  few  of  his  own  countrymen  were  joined  together 
with  him.  He  then  exhorted  and  prayed  with  them,  and 
spoke  to  them  about  the  state  of  their  souls.  After  a  short 
time  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  York  joined  with  them. 
They  then  hired  a  sail-loft,  in  which  they  met,  and  Mr.  Em- 
bury used  to  preach,  exhort,  etc.  Captain  Webb,  an  ofiicer  in 
the  British  army,  came  amongst  them,  and  was  much  engaged 
in  religion,  and  preached  frequently.  After  some  time  they 
purchased  a  lot  of  ground  in  John  Street,  on  which  they 


asbury's  and  lee's  journals  in  opposition     17 

built  a  church,  in  the  year  1768  ;  and  on  the  30th  day  of  Oc- 
tober, in  the  same  year,  the  church  was  opened  for  divine 
worship ;  and  Mr.  Embury  preached  the  dedication  sermon. 
It  is  now  a  little  upwards  of  thirty -two  years  since  our  so- 
ciety had  a  house  of  w^orship  in  this  place,  and  they  have 
been  increasing  and  multiplying  ever  since." 

Another  fact  which  should  be  here  noted  is  that  nine  years 
after  this  account  of  the  origin  of  Methodism  in  this  country 
was  written  by  Mr.  Lee  in  New  York  City,  he  published  his 
"  History  of  the  Methodists."     In  the  early  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  he  studied  the  beginnings  and  progress  of  the 
Wesleyan  movement  in  America  with  reference  to  his  literary 
project.     For  that  reason  probably  he,  while  a  pastor  in  New 
York  in  the  early  months  of  1801,  gave  his  attention  to  the 
origin  of  the  cause  there.     He  recorded  the  results  of  his  in- 
vestigation in  his  Joui-nal  as  above  shown.      In   the   nine 
years  following  1801,  in  which  no  doubt  he  was  gathering 
and  collating  material  for  the  history  of  Methodism  which  he 
published  in  1810,  he  had  abundant  opportunity  to  revise 
the  account  he  wrote  in  1801  of  the  origin  of  Methodism  in 
New  York  and  the  continent,  if  farther  researches  had  proved 
it  to  be  in  any  particular  incorrect.    Yet  in  his  History  in  1810 
he  strictly  adhered  to  what  he  had  written  in  his  Journal  in 
New  York  City  in  1801.     He  says  in  his  History  what  he  had 
previously  said  in  his  Journal,  namely :  "  In  the  beginning  of 
the   year   1766  the  first   permanent  Methodist   society  was 
formed  in   the  city  of   New   York;"    and  he  further  says. 
"  Not  long  after  the  society  was  formed  in  New  Y^ork,  Kobert 
Strawbridge,  from  Ireland,  who  had  settled  in  Maryland,  be- 
gan to  hold  meetings  in  public  and  joined  a  society  together 
near  Pipe  Creek."     Thus,  as  we  see,  Lee  still  maintained  in 
his  "  History  of  the  Methodists  "  in  1810  what  he  had  affirmed 
in  his  Journal  in  1801,  namely,  that  Embury  originated  "  the 
first  society  formed  in  the  United  States."     Surely  he  would 
not  have  recorded  such  a  statement  in  a  history  for  future 
generations   to   scan,  had  not  the  results  of  his  researches 
as  a  historian  fully  warranted  it.     He  perhaps  had  opportu- 
2 


i  \ 


18 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN    AMERICA 


LEE*S  ACCURACY  AS   A   HISTORIAN 


19 


nity  to  know  what  Asbury,  in  1801,  had  said  in  two  words 
about  Strawbridge's  priority  in  America;  indeed  in  the 
preface  to  his  History  Lee  says  he  had  consulted  "Mr. 
Francis  Asbury 's  journals,  bound  and  unbound." 

It  must  be  noted,  too,  that  Lee  was  of  Southern  birth. 
In  the  South-land  he  was  educated,  converted,  and  began  his 
illustrious  ministry.  From  his  departure  from  New  York,  in 
1801,  to  the  end  of  his  life,  all  his  time,  except  about  a  year, 
was  spent  in  the  Southern  country,  mostly  in  Virginia.  He 
was  familiar,  too,  with  Maryland.  He  labored  in  a  circuit 
contiguous  to  Baltimore  in  1787,  and  in  that  city  immediately 
thereafter.  He  in ubt  have  heard,  then,  of  the  departed 
Strawbridge,  and  of  his  Wesleyan  pioneering  in  that  region. 
Mrs.  Strawbridge  was  then  living,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  as- 
sume that  Lee  met  her  and  conversed  with  her.  As  a  man 
of  shrewd  observation,  to  whom  the  study  of  Methodist  his- 
tory was  attractive,  it  is  probable  that  at  that  time  he  was 
alert  in  gathering,  comparing,  and  attesting  facts  about  his 
denomination  and  its  heroes,  and  that  he  was  specially  inter- 
ested in  whatever  incidents  he  found  that  illustrated  the  ori- 
gin of  Methodism  in  this  land.  To  such  facts  he  no  doubt 
gave  careful  attention  while  he  was  at  or  near  the  locality  of 
Strawbridge'^  first  American  labors,  and  among  the  people 
who  knew  him  and  cherished  his  name.  Therefore  we  may 
believe  that  Jesse  Lee  was  informed  concerning  the  time 
when  :\r(  tliodism  was  planted  in  Maryland,  and  that  when, 
in  1801.  he  wrote  that  in  New  York  "was  the  first  society 
formed  hi  the  United  States,"  and  in  1810,  when  he  reas- 
serted the  same  thing  in  his  History,  he  was  clearly  satis- 
fied that  his  statement  was  true. 

Lee  was  a  careful  and  a  reliable  historian.  There  seem  to 
be  but  few,  if  any,  erroneous  statements  of  importance  in  his 
History.  In  the  preface  to  his  work,  he  says  :  "  I  have 
been  as  careful  as  possible  to  state  dates  and  facts  such  as  I 
think  Avill  be  for  the  information  of  pious  people."  Not 
only  was  he  careful  about  his  statements,  but  he  was  also 
diligent  and  painstaking  in  gathering  the  data  upon  which  he 
based  them.     In  the  preface  to  his  History,   he   says:  "I 


' 


I 


have  read  over  more  than  two  thousand  pages  of  my  Journal 
and  consulted  many  of  the  travelling  and  local  preachers  in 
order  to  ascertain  historical  facts  and  useful  things  which 
have  never  yet   been   published."     He  says:  "I  have  con- 
sulted every  author  I  could  find  who  I  thought  would  af- 
ford information  on  this  subject,  especially  Wesley's  '  Jour- 
nals,'  his   '  Ecclesiastical  History,'  and   his   '  Life,'  by  Dr. 
Coke  and  Mr.  Moore.     Also  the  '  Methodist  Memorial,'  by 
Mr.   Atmore,  Mr.    AVilliam  Myles's  '  Chronological  History 
of,'    and    Mr.    Joseph   Benson's    'Apology   for   the   People 
called  Methodists.'"      He   also  consulted   "the   magazines 
published  by  the  Methodists,  Freeborn  Garrettson's  '  Trav- 
els,' and  William  Watter's  '  Life.'  "     He  was  an  industrious 
and  competent  investigator  as  well  as   writer  of  historical 
facts.     The  careful  reader  who  is  familiar  with  the  subject 
cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  remarkable  accuracy  of 
his  History.      This  accuracy  he  sought    to    secure,    for  in 
the  preface  to  his  work  he  affirms:    "I  have  used  my  ut- 
most endeavors  to  avoid  errors,  and  to  send  into  the  world 
the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth."     His 
\)Ook — the  product  of  such  patient  investigation  and  rigid 
care — fairly  entitles  him  to  the  rank  of  the  most  reliable  his- 
torical authority  of  American  Methodism  for  the   period  it 
embraces.*     In  the  preface  thereto  he  says  :  "  I  believe  no 
preacher  born  in  America  has  had  a  better  opportunity  of 
being  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  Methodists   than    I 
have."     This  declaration  is  vindicated  by  the  accuracy  of  his 
History.      "  His   work,"  says  an  eminent  authority,   "is  as 
comprehensive  and  accurate  in  its  account  of  Methodism  as 
it  is  unpretending  in  its  style  and  veracious  in  its  statements. 
His  industry  in  collecting  facts  and  his  fidelity  in  recording 
them,  will  entitle  him  to  the  respect  and  gratitude  of  Method- 
ism to  the  latest  period  of  its  history."  t 

*  In  this  estimate  of  Lee's  superior  reliability  as  a  historical  authority  I  do  not 
include  the  Rev.  Joseph  Pilmoor,  who  left  in  a  journalistic  form  an  authoritative 
history  of  Methodism  in  America,  but  it  is  in  manuscript,  and  only  detached  and 
small  portions  of  it  have  up  to  this  time  been  published.  It  covers  only  the  period 
from  August,  1769,  to  January,  1T74 

t  The  Rev.  Dr.  Leroy  M.  Lee,  in  Life  and  Times  of  the  Rev.  Jesse  Lee,  p.  465. 


Li 


1 


20 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


LEE  VERSUS   ASBURY 


21 


Possibly  some  one  may  say  that  in  according  the  priority 
to  Embury,  Jesse  Lee  was  guided  by  the  short  historical 
narrative  which  was  published  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Discipline,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
While  it  is  said  in  that  narrative  that  Strawbridge  "  settled 
in  Maryland  "  "  about  the  same  time  "  that  Embury  was  fix- 
ing the  foundations  of  the  cause  in  New  York,  yet  it  conveys 
the  impression  of  Embury's  priority.  Therefore  it  may  be 
inferred,  I  repeat,  that  Lee  was  governed  by  the  Disciplin- 
ary Sketch  in  what  he  wrote  of  the  origin  of  Methodism  in 

this  land. 

It  is  certain,  however,  that  he  did  not  carelessly  accept  the 
statements  in  that  official  history,  for  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant therein  he  has  distinctly  contradicted  ;  and  he  has 
thereby  shown  that  his  reliance  was  not  upon  what  an  official 
historian  had  written,  but  upon  his  own  original  researches. 
In  the  revised  and  expanded  form  in  which  the  history  of 
the  American  Wesley  an  cause  appeared  in  the  "  Discipline  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  "  in  1791  and  1792,  it  is  said 
that  its  origin  in  New  York  was  in  "  the  latter  end  of  the  year 
1766."  This  particular  date  was  continued  in  every  succes- 
sive edition  of  that  Discipline  for  over  a  century.  Yet  Jesse 
Lee,  the  accurate  and  authoritative  historian,  rejected  it  in 
his  Journal  in  1801,  when  he  asserted  therein  that  the  "  New 
York  society  was  formed  by  Philip  Embury  in  the  heghining 
of  the  year  1766  ; "  and  he  did  the  same  in  his  History  in 
1810,  where  he  reaffirmed  that  "  in  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1766,  the  first  permanent  Methodist  society  was  formed  in 
the  city  of  New  Y^ork." 

Lee,  as  a  foremost  leader  of  American  Methodism,  could 
not  have  been  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the  Discipline 
dated  its  origin  in  "  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1766."  That 
date  had  stood  in  that  official  publication  for  about  a  decade, 
when,  in  1801,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  Lee  wrote  in  his 
Journal  that  "the  first  society  in  the  United  States  was 
formed  by  rhilip  Embury  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1766." 
The  same  date  had  been  standing  in  the  Discipline  for  nine- 
teen years,  when  this  careful  investigator  and  painstaking 


historian  again  contradicted  it  by  stating  in  his  "  History  of 
the  Methodists  "  that  "  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1766  the 
first  permanent  Methodist  society  was  formed  in  the  city  of 
New  York."  The  date  of  the  New  York  origin  which  Lee 
opposed  to  that  of  Asbury  was  not  hastily  promulgated.  I 
repeat  that  to  the  date  in  the  Discipline  Lee  opposed  his 
earlier  date  in  his  Journal  in  1801,  and  then  again  in  his 
History  in  1810,  when  the  Disciplinary  date,  reproduced  with 
each  annual  reissue  of  the  book,  was  nearly  a  score  of  years 
old.  At  that  time,  with  abundant  opportunity  for  reviewing 
and  revising  what  he  had  written  years  before,  Lee  sent  forth 
the  earlier  date,  with  the  declaration  that  he  had  endeavored 
to  the  utmost  "  to  send  into  the  world  the  truth  and  nothing 

but  the  truth." 

Nor  can  it  be  believed  that  Lee  was  influenced  in  favor  of 
the  priority  of  Embury  by  any  personal  bias  toward  New 
York.     His  nativity,  his  ties,  and  his  associations  Avould  natu- 
rally predispose  him  to  accord  to  Maryland  and  Strawbridge 
the  honor  of  the  priority  if  the  truth  would  warrant  it.     For 
some  time  preceding  the  publication  of  his  History,  and,  in- 
deed, at  the  very  time  that  it  was  passing  through  the  press, 
he  was  the  chaplain  of  the  National  Congress  at  Washing- 
ton.    As  in  New  York  Citj  in  1801  he  had  good  facilities 
for  proving  the  correctness  of  the  date  of  Embury's  work 
which  he  there  and  then  recorded  ;  so  in  1810,  in  the  land  of 
the  Potomac,  he  had  the  opportunity  to  disprove  the  alleged 
antecedence  of  the  New  York  society,  if  evidence  existed  m  the 
region  of  Strawbridge's  labors  by  which  he  could  do  it.     The 
fact  that  Lee's  book  was  printed  in  Baltimore  during  his  offi- 
cial residence  in  AYashington  also  is  corroborative  of  the  pre- 
sumption,  which  on  other  grounds  is  sufficiently  warranted, 
that   he   was    thoroughly    satisfied   that    the    statement    he 
made  in  it  of  Embury's  priority  was  perfectly  accurate.     The 
fact,  likewise,  that  he  said  in  his  printed  volume  what  he 
wrote  in  his  manuscript  Journal  nine  years  previously,  name- 
ly that  Emburv  began  his  New  York  labors  in  the  beginning 
of' 1766,  notwithstanding  Asbury  had  for  nineteen  years  been 
declaring  in  the  Discipline  that  it  was  in  the  latter  end  of 


22 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


that  year,  warrants  the  belief  that  Lee's  investigations  had 
brought  him  to  the  sure  conclusion  that  the  date  in  the 
Discipline  was  not  accurate,  and  that,  as  a  faithful  historian, 
he  was  compelled  to  write  that  the  time  of  the  origin  of  the 
Methodist  Movement  in  America  was  i/i  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1766,  the  Discipline  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

We  now  clearly  see  that  the  journalistic  statement  of  As- 
bury  and  that  of  Lee  thus  brought  into  view%  one  of  which  was 
made  in  the  year  1801  at  Pipe  Creek,  and  the  other  at  New 
York  in  the  same  year,  are  contradictory,  allowing  that  which 
is  not  certain,  namely,  that  Asbury  did  indeed  intend  to  declare 
rather  than  to  suggest  tentatively  that  Strawbridge's  society 
was  first.     Bishop  Asbury,  at  Pipe  Creek  in  May,  1801,  said  : 
"  Here  Mr.  Strawbridge  formed  the  first  society  in  Maryland 
-and  America^     Jesse  Lee,  a  short  time  previously  in  the 
same  vear  in  New  York  said  :  "  In  the  city  of  New  York  was 
the  first  society  formed  in  the  United  States."     Asbury,  so 
far  as  is  known,  never  thereafter  made  orally  or  in  writing 
anv  declaration  like  that  of  the  two  italicized  w^ords  concern- 
ing  Pipe  Creek.      Lee,  on  the  contrary,  nine  years  subse- 
quently, in  a  *'  History  of  the  Methodists,"  formally  and  with 
the  authoritativeness  of  a  careful  historical  investigator  and 
writer,  reasserted  that  the  society  formed  by  Embury  was  the 
first  and  that  its  origin  dates  from  the  beginning  of  1766,  and 
Tint  from  the  latter  end  of  that  year. 

In  view  of  all  the  facts  and  reasons  above  given,  I  am 
compelled  to  accept  Lee  as  a  better  historical  authority  than 
Asbury,  and  therefore  to  receive  his  statements  respecting 
the  time  and  the  place  of  the  origin  of  the  AVesleyan  move- 
ment in  America  as  veritable  history.  In  saying  this  T  do 
not  impeach  the  honesty  or  fairness  of  Asbury,  but  must 
believe  that  from  lack  of  research  or  through  inadvertence  he 
signally  failed  at  times  in  historical  accuracy.  To  the  two 
italicized  words  in  Asbury 's  Journal,  written  in  1801,  is  op- 
posed the  circumstantial  account  of  the  rise  of  Methodism  in 
New  Y^ork  recorded  in  that  city  in  1801  by  Jesse  Lee  in  Uh 
Journal,  and  nine  years  afterward  repeated  in  substance  by 
hiin  ill   his  "History  of  the  Methodists."     Accepting  then 


ASBURY   INVALIDATED   BY    LEE 


2^ 


Lee's  statement,  I  am  constrained  to  say  that  a^jcordmg  to 
the  most  painstaking  and  reliable  historical  authority  extant 
the  AVesleyan  reformation  in  the  New  World  began  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  year  1766,  in  New  York  City,  in  connection  with 
the  labors  of  Philip  Embury. 

This  date  of  Lee,  of  itself,  goes  far  toward  mvahdatmg 
the  two  italicized  words  in  Asbury's  Journal,  namely,  "  ami 
America:'     Asbury  in  the  Discipline  fixed  the  time  of  the 
origin  of  Methodism  in  New  York  in  the  latter  end  of  1766, 
and  then  he  adds  that  ''  about  the  same  time  "  Mr.  Straw- 
bridge  settled  in  Frederick  County,  Maryland.     That  is  to 
say,  according  to  Asbury,  the  time  of  Strawbridge's  settle- 
ment in  Maryland  was  about  the  end  of  1766.     I  assume,  of 
course,  that  he  reckoned  from  that  period  when  he  wrote  the 
two  notable  words  to  which  so  much  importance  has  been 
attached  by  the  advocates  of  Strawbridge's  priority.     Had  he 
reckoned  from  the  earlier  date  of  Lee,  it  can  scarcely  be  be- 
lieved  that  he  would  have  written  the  two  italicized  words  m 
question  in  his  Journal,  inasmuch  as  Lee's  date  places  the 
origin  of  Embury's  society  from  eight  to  eleven  months  ear- 
lier than  the  date  given  in  the  historical  sketch  in  the  Disci- 
pline of  1791.     The  case  then  may  be  stated  thus :  If  the 
two  Irish  lay  preachei^  commenced  their  work  in  this  coun- 
try at  "  about  the  same  time,"  and  that  time  was  by  Asbury 
imderstood  to  have  been  "the  latter  end  of  1766;"  and  m 
reality  it  was  not  at  that  time  but  in  the  beginning  of  1766 
that  Embury  began  his  labors  in  New  York,  how  could  ii  be 
affirmed  that  "Mr.  Strawbridge  [about  the  latter  end  of  1766] 
formed  the  first  society  in  America  ?  " 

If,  as  Asbury  states,  Strawbridge  settled  in  Maryland 
about  the  latter  end  of  1766,  and  Embury,  as  Lee  states,  be- 
gan his  New  York  ministry  in  the  beginning  of  the  same  year, 
and  Lee  is,  as  we  concede,  correct,  then  Embury's  priority  is 

thereby  established. 

Lee's  date  of  the  origin  of  Methodism  in  New  lork,  and 
also  his  deliberately  repeated  declaration  of  the  priority  of 
Emburv,  have  the  sanction,  at  least,  of  Bishop  Asbury's  si- 
lence. ^  He  read  the  "History  of  the  Methodists,"  and  wrote 


24 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


his  approval  thereof.  In  the  third  volume  of  his  Journal, 
(page  MO)  Asbury  says  :  "  I  have  seen  Jesse  Lee's  History 
for  the  first  time.  It  is  better  than  I  expected."  The  bishop 
dissents  from  something  which  Lee  therein  said  of  him,  but 
otherwise  he  makes  no  criticism  of  the  work.  If,  in  Asbury  s 
view,  Lee  erred  in  according  priority  to  the  society  in  New 
York,  and  in  asserting  in  opposition  to  the  Discipline  of 
1791,  and  all  the  subsequent  editions  of  that  publication, 
that  the  time  of  the  society's  origin  was  the  beginning  of  176G, 
the  errors  were  of  sufficient  import  to  call  for  correction,  and 
especially  as  they  contradicted  Asbury  himself.  But  the 
bishop  showed  no  sign  of  an  inclination  to  challenge  any  of 
Lee's  dates.  As  his  notice  of  Lee's  History  was  written 
nine  years  after  he  wrote  the  two  notable  words  in  his 
Journal  at  Pipe  Creek,  it  is  a  pertinent  question  if  he 
really  meant  those  words  to  be  a  declaration  of  the  priority 
of  Htrawbridge,  and  had  found  no  cause  for  revising  his  con- 
clusion, why  did  he  not,  while  noticing  Lee's  work  in  his  Jour- 
nal, indicate  his  belief  that  the  History  of  American  Meth- 
odism, by  Jesse  Lee  was  in  that  particular  at  fault  ?  He 
gives  no  such  indication.  Is  it  not  then  fair  to  conclude  that 
here,  at  least,  Asbury,  by  "silence,  gives  consent?" 

Having  thus  investigated  the  evidence  presented  by  Dr. 
Hamilton  to  show  that  the  society  at  Pipe  Creek  was  ante- 
cedent to  that  in  New  York,  I  will  now  proceed  to  examine 
what  Dr.  Koberts  says  in  the  same  behalf. 

The  following  passage  by  Dr.  Roberts  was  reproduced  in 
Lednum's  "History  of  Methodism  in  America,"  from  an 
article  in  the  New  York  Christian  Advocate  of  April  29, 1858. 
It  shows  the  grounds  on  which  Roberts  based  his  plea  for 
the  priority  of  the  Maryland  society.     He  says : 

"  I  have  in  my  possession  some  letters,  written  by  different 
individuals  at  a  distance  from  each  other  and  without  any 
concert  upon  their  part,  which  disclose  some  interesting  facts. 
I  have  space  only  to  notice  a  few.  Mr.  Michael  Laird,  who 
subsequently  settled  in  Philadelphia,  was  born  April  30, 
1771.  He  obtained  his  knowledge  of  these  points  from  his 
father,  who  was  intimate  with  Mr.  Strawbridge  and  fully  con- 


I 


THE  MAYNARD   TRADITION 


25 


versant  with  the  tmth  of  what  is  stated  in  his  letter.  Mr. 
Strawbridge  came  to  America  in  1760,  with  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren, and  settled  in  Maryland.  Immediately  after  arranging 
his  dwelling  he  opened  it  for  divine  service,  and  continued  to 
preach  therein  regularly.  These  efforts  soon  after  resulted 
in  the  awakening  and  conversion  of  several  who  attended. 

"In  another  communication  I  ascertain  that  Henry 
Maynard  was  baptized  (by  Robert  Strawbridge)  when  he  was 
but  six  or  seven  years  old.  At  that  time  Mr.  S.  was  preach- 
ing regularly  at  John  Maynard's,  a  brother  of  Henry.  Henry 
accompanied  his  father  to  one  of  these  appointments,  and 
Mr.  S.  baptized  him  at  the  spring. 

"  Henry  Maynard  died  in  1837,  aged  eighty-one  years. 
This  fixes  his  baptism  as  early  as  1762.  John  Maynard,  at 
whose  house  Mr.  Strawbridge  was  then  preaching,  was  him- 
self  a  Methodist.  This  renders  it  positive  that  Mr.  S.  had 
been  engaged  in  preaching  regularly  prior  to  1762,  and  fully 
corroborates  the  statement  contained  in  Mr.  Laird's  letter, 
viz.,  that  he  commenced  his  labors  in  the  ministry  immedi- 
ately after  his  settlement  in  Maryland." 

If  the  letters  referred  to  in  these  paragraphs  contained 
proof  of  Strawbridge's  priority.  Dr.  Roberts  might  appropri- 
ately have  produced  it  in  the  language  of  the  writers.  We 
have  a  right  to  hear  the  witnesses  testify.  Would  a  court 
admit  an  advocate's  version  of  what  his  witnesses  said  with- 
out hearing  them  relate  it  before  the  jury? 

Dr.  Roberts  says  that  Mr.  Laird  "obtained  his  knowl- 
edge of  these  points  from  his  father  ; "  and  then  he  abruptly 
declares  that  "  Mr.  Strawbridge  came  to  America  in  1760, 
with  his  wife  and  children,  and  settled  in  Maryland." 
Whether  Laird  said  that  in  the  letter,  or  whether  it  is  merely 
an  inference  drawn  by  Roberts  from  something  else  that  he 
therein  said,  is  not  stated. 

In  the  Laird  portion  of  the  case,  as  presented  by  Dr. 
Roberts,  there  are  a  few  things  to  be  noted  : 

I.  The  date  of  Strawbridge's  emigration,  namely,  1760, 
is  obviously  erroneous.  All  the  known  facts  in  relation  to 
the  commencement  of  the  ministry  of  Robert  Strawbridge  in 


26 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


Mar^'land,  are  opposed  to  the  hypothesis  that  it  was  in  the 
year  1760.  There  is  absolutely  no  authoritative  word  in  sup- 
port of  a  date  so  remote.  Testimony  given  by  Michael  Laird 
himself,  which  I  will  now  cite,  certainly  does  not  prove  it. 
Mr.  Laird  says :  "  Mr.  Strawbridge  emigrated  from  the 
neighborhood  of  Drummersnave,  a  small  village  about  four 
miles  from  Carrick-on-Shannon,  Coimty  Leitrim,  L-eland, 
and  settled  in  Maryland.  I  was  intimately  acquainted  with 
this  fact  since  I  was  a  small  boy,  for  I  had  an  uncle  who  emi- 
giiited  from  Carrick-on-Shannon  a  few  years  after  and  settled 
also  in  Maryland.  My  uncle  became  a  preacher  and  trav- 
elled about  six  years  in  the  Methodist  connection  in  this 
country.  His  name  was  Michael  Laird.  Moreover,  I  Avas 
intimately  acquainted  with  Leonard  Strawbridge,  brother  to 
Kobert,  for  thirty  or  forty  years.  He  often  stopped  at  my 
father's  house,  and  also  at  my  house  after  my  father's  decease. 
It  was  in  the  year  1758  or  1759  that  the  Methodist  preachers 
lirst  visited  our  neighborhood,  and  I  think  our  family  and 
the  Messrs.  Strawbridge  were  of  the  first  members.  This 
was  twelve  years  before  I  was  born."  * 

I  observe  that  in  this  passage  Mr.  Laird  does  not  say 
anything  about  the  time  of  the  emigration  of  Mr.  Strawbridge. 
The  following  points  in  his  statement  should  be  specially 
noted :  (1)  That  the  Methodist  preachers  first  came  into 
Strawbridge's  neighborhood — Drummersnave — in  1758  or 
1759.  The  first  known  record  of  a  Methodist  preacher  being 
at  Drummersnave  is  in  Wesley's  "  Journal,"  May  25,  1758. 
Wesley,  who  was  then  there,  does  not  say  that  a  society  ex- 
isted in  the  place  at  that  time,  nor  does  he  even  say  that  he 
preached  there.  Laird  does  not  say  that  a  society  was  formed 
in  1758  or  1759,  but  only  that  the  preachers  then  first  ap- 
peared there. 

The  next  notice  that  we  have  of  Drummersnave  is  in  Wes- 
ley's "Journal,"  June,  1760.  Mr.  Wesley  says  that  "almost 
the  whole  toAvn,  Protestants  and  Papists,  were  present  at  the 
sermon  in  tlie  evening,  and  a  great  part  of  them  in  the  mom- 

■*  Letter  of  Michael  Laird,  dated  July  17,  1844,  and  published  in  the  New  York 
Christian  Advocate  July  31,  1844.     Drummersnave  is  now  called  Drumsna. 


'1 

\ 

I 

I 


^'ic 


I 


TIME   OF   STRAWBRIDGE'S    EMIGRATION^ 


27 


ing,  but  O,  how  few  of  them  will  bear  fruit  unto  perfection." 
At  this  visit  to  the  village  he  met  with  atrocious  persecution. 
He  does  not  even  yet  speak  of  a  society  as  existing  there.  It 
is  not  certain  that  there  was  a  Methodist  society  in  Drum- 
mersnave in  the  middle  of  the  year  1760,  but  it  is  certain  that 
one  could  not  have  been  established  there  very  long  before 
that  time.  (2)  Mr.  Laird  says  :  ^'  I  think  our  family  and  the 
Messrs.  Strawbridge  were  of  the  first  members."  So  he 
thonglit,  but  he  does  not  appear  to  have  hioicn.  Even  if 
Strawbridge  had  been  i\\e  first  individual  that  joined  the  class, 
of  which  there  is  no  proof,  it  would  not  therefore  be  certain 
that  the  event  occurred  before  1760,  as  it  is  not  known  that  a 
society  was  foi-med  at  Drummersnave  prior  to,  or  even  as 
early  as,  that  year.  The  dogmatic  assertion  that  "Straw- 
bridge  came  to  America  in  1760,"  which  Dr.  Eoberts  made 
apparently  upon  the  authority  of  something  which  INIichael 
Laird  wrote,  is  not  sustained  by  the  explicit  statements  of  the 
same  Michael  Laird  as  reproduced  above. 

(3)  The  assertion  that  Strawbridge  came  to  America  in 
1760  is  also  in  conflict  with  the  conclusions  of  authoritative 
Irish  students  of  this  question.  Dr.  Abel  Stevens  declares 
that  John  Shillington  is  "  the  best  Irish  authority  in  the 
Methodist  history  and  antiquities  of  his  country."  '•  Now,  Mr. 
Shillington  states  that  Strawbridge's  emigration  was  "not 
earlier  than  1764."  Dr.  Hamilton,  in  the  Methodist  Quarterly 
Revieic  in  1856,  said  absolutely  that  Strawbridge  came  to 
America  in  1759  or  1760,  but  he  was  afterward  so  impressed  by 
Shillington's  facts  as  set  forth  in  a  letter  then  in  the  hands 
of  Dr.  Abel  Stevens,  that  he  wrote  to  the  latter  acknowledging 
that  "after  all  Mr.  S.  [Shillington]  may  be  right."  By  this 
admission  Hamilton  surrendered  his  claim  to  an  earlier  date 

than  1764.  -,    n    , 

An  Irish  authority  of  high  repute,  and  who  probably  has 
ascertained  about  all  that  can  be  kno^^Ti  concerning  the  his- 
tory of  Strawbridge  in  Ireland,  is  the  Eev.  William  Crook. 
In  his  work  entitled  "Ireland  and  the  Centenary  of  American 
Methodism  "  (page  154),  Mr.  Crook  relates  Strawbridge's  his- 

*  Stevens's  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Vol  I.,  p.  73. 


28 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


STRAWBKIDGE   IN    IRELAND 


29 


tory  in  Ireland  as  follows :  "  Shortly  after  Strawbridge  em- 
braced Methodism  he  encountered  violent  persecution  from 
his  neighbors  and  immediate  friends,  so  that  he  was  obliged 
to  leave  Drumsna  [Drummersnave]  and  take  refuge  in  Sligo, 
where  he  joined  the  society  and  where  he  manifested  much  of 
that  zeal  which  afterward  distinguished  him.  I  suppose  him 
to  have  foimd  a  home  in  Sligo  about  the  year  1761.  The  next 
glimpse  we  get  of  him  is  in  the  County  Cavan,  where  we  hear 
of  his  having  frequently  preached  at  Kilmore.  About  the  year 
1763  ui  1764  he  removed  to  Tandragee,  where  he  was  employed 
for  some  time  in  erecting  some  buildings  convenient  to  the 
town.  He  made  Terry liugan,  which  Wesley  denominates  'the 
mother  church  of  these  parts '  his  headquarters,  and  resided 
in  an  humble  cottage  amongst  the  hearty  Wesleyans  of  this 
favored  locality.  From  Terryhugan  as  a  centre  he  itinerated 
tlirough  the  neighboring  country,  where  his  labors  were  highly 
prized,  and  where  his  name  and  memory  were  cherished  by  all 
who  knew  him.  About  the  year  1764  or  1765  he  married  one  of 
the  worthy,  devoted  Wesleyans  of  Terryhugan — a  Miss  Piper 
— and  shortly  after,  probably  in  1766,  with  his  young  wife, 
bade  farewell  to  Ireland,  to  find,  like  Embury  and  Williams, 
a  grave  m  the  New  World." 

Mr.  Crook  does  not  profess  to  have  secured  precise  dates 
of  these  events.  Tradition  was  his  only  guide,  and  he  knew 
its  liability  to  err.  "In  the  case  of  Strawbridge,"  he  says,  **we 
have  little  or  no  reliable  dates,  and  no  documents  illustrative 
of  his  life  previous  to  liis  emigration.  We  can  only  then 
spell  out  our  way  by  comparing  one  date  with  another,  and 
can  only  hope  to  be  approximately  correct."  In  assigning 
the  emigration  of  Strawbridge  to  about  1766,  Mr.  Crook  says: 
*'I  do  not  give  these  figures  dogmatically,  but  merely  as  the 
nearest  approach  I  can  make  to  the  true  date.  I  am  aware 
that  many  high  authorities  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic 
have  claimed  a  much  earlier  date  for  Strawbridge  and  Meth- 
odism in  Maryland.  I  have  read  all  the  documents  by  Dr. 
Roberts,  Dr.  Hamilton,  etc.,  and  have  seen  no  proof  as  yet 
that  Strawbridge  left  Ireland  before  1766."  In  this  Crook  has 
corroboration  in  George  Bourne,  of  Baltimore,  who,  as  we 


I 


shall  see,  "  after  the  most  accurate  research,"  declared  his  belief 
that  Straw-bridge's  society  in  Maryland  was  younger  than 
Embury's  by  "nine  or  twelve  months  at  least."  According  to 
this,  the  society  in  Maryland  was  foraied,  say  in  1767.  As  to 
Strawbridge's  alleged  antecedence,  Mr.  Crook  says  :  "  In  the 
case  of  New  York  and  Embury,  we  have  documentary  evi- 
dence that  the  society  was  formed  in  1766.  About  that  there 
can  be  no  dispute ;  while  in  relation  to  Maryland  and  Straw- 
bridge,  we  have  no  documents  whatever  that  can  be  called  re- 
liable, and  I  think  it  is  impossible  to  prove  that  Strawbridge 
left  Ireland  before  1766."  * 

(4)  While  the  testimony  pubhshed  by  Michael  Laird  in 
1844  affords  no  proof  that  Robert  Strawbridge  was  a  member 
of  a  Methodist  society  before  1760,  the  researches  of  Shilling- 
ton  and  Crook  have  shown  that,  after  his  union  with  the 
Methodists,  he  had  a  period  of  ministerial  activity  in  Ireland. 
He  became  a  local  preacher,  and  it  is  certain  that  as  such  he 
travelled  in  several  localities  in  his  native  Erin.     While  thus 
preaching,  he,  like  Embury,  wrought  at  the  craft  of  a  house- 
builder.     In  the  course  of  this  period  he  married.     All  this, 
obviously,  involved  time.     He  probably  did  not  preach  until 
some  time  after  he  joined  the  Wesleyans.     His  career  as  a 
Methodist  preacher  in  Ireland  could  not  have  been  achieved 
in  a  day.     In  all  this  we  see  the  groundlessness  of  Dr.  Rob- 
erts's unqualified  declaration  that  "  Mr.  Strawbridge  came  to 
America  in  1760,  ivUh  Ms  wife  and  cMldrenr    If  Roberts  en-ed 
in  this  particular,  it  is  reasonable  to  infer  that  he  possibly 
deviated  from  the  straight  line  of  accuracy  in  other  statements. 
II.  In  calling  Michael  Laird  as  a  witness  Dr.   Roberts 
failed  to  indicate  that  he  was  an  Irishman,  but  said  that  he 
"  obtained  his  knowledge  of  these  points  from  his  father  who 
was  intimate  with  Mr.  Strawbridge  and  fully  conversant  with 
the  truth  of  what  is  stated  in  his  letter."     When  I  read  this 
passage  I  understood  by  it  that  the  elder  Laird  was  associated 
with  Strawbridge  in  Maryland.     When  subsequently  I  came 
to  read  the  letter  of  Michael  Laird  of  July,  1844,  I  saw  that 
the  elder  Laird  lived  in  Ireland  and  never  saw  America. 

*  Ireland  and  the  Centennary  of  American  Methodism. 


^ 


30 


THE   WESLEY  AN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


It  is  obvious,  then,  tliat  neither  Michael  Laird  nor  his 
father  was  with  Strawbridge  in  Maryland.  Whatever  they 
may  have  known  about  him  during  his  residence  in  this 
country  must  have  been  obtained  otherwise  than  from  per- 
sonal association  with  him.  Strawbridge  emigrated  before 
Michael  Laird  existed,  and  whatever  Michael's  father  may 
have  told  him  about  the  date  of  that  migration  was  probably 
derived  from  memory,  and  it  is  likely  that  Michael  repeated 
it  from  memory. 

III.  Apparently  upon  Michael  Laird's  authority  Dr.  Eob- 
erts  says  that  Strawbridge,  "  immediately  after  arranging 
his  dwelling  opened  it  for  divine  service,"  and  that  his  "  ef- 
forts soon  after  resulted  in  the  awakening  and  conversion  of 
several  who  attended ;  "  but  he  does  not  say  that  a  society 
was  formed  immediately.  A  question  which  is  necessarily 
left  undetermined  is,  How  long  was  the  interval  between  the 
arrival  of  Eobert  Strawbridge  and  the  formation  of  the  first 
Wesleyan  class  in  Maryland  ?  In  that  wilderness  region, 
with  all  his  new  adjustments  to  make,  his  livelihood  to  pro- 
cure, and  with  but  few  and  scattered  neighbors,  who  were  ig- 
norant of  Methodism,  it  may  be  assumed  with  reason  that 
some  time  elapsed  before  the  immigrant  preacher  advanced 
in  his  evangelical  work  to  the  degree  of  constituting  a  Method- 
ist  society.  As  to  when  that  result  was  achieved  by  him  is 
a  dififerent  question  from  that  of  when  he  reached  Maryland. 
Strawbridge  might  have  been  there  a  year  or  two  at  least,  en- 
gaged in  securing  the  location  and  settlement  of  his  family 
and  providing  subsistence  for  them,  forming  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  country  and  its  rustic  inhabitants,  and  con- 
versing and  preaching  as  opportunity  allowed,  before  he 
could  gather  converts  into  a  society. 

The  other  portion  of  Dr.  Eoberts's  case  is  the  Maynard 
tradition,  which  the  Eev.  William  Fort,  of  Maryland,  pub- 
lished iu  the  New  York  Christian  Advocate,  July  10,  1844. 
Mr.  Fort  says :  "  As  early  as  1762  or  1763,  Strawbridge  was 
not  only  preaching  but  baptizing  in  Frederick  County.  He 
had  an  appointment  regularly  at  John  Maynard's,  who  was 
then  a  Methodist,  and  at  one  of  these  appointments,  in  1762 


BAPTISM   OF  YOUNG   MAYNARD 


31 


or  1763,  he  baptized  Henry  Maynard,  who  died  in  1837." 
Fort  cites  no  word  from  any  authority  in  support  of  these 
statements.  Like  Eoberts  with  the  Laird  tradition,  he  does 
not  permit  his  witness  to  appear  and  testify. 

In  approaching  the  Maynard  tradition  Dr.  Eoberts  says  : 
"  In  another  communication  I  ascertain  that  Henry  Maynard 
was  baptized  (by  Eobert  Strawbridge)  when  he  was  but  six 
or  seven  years  old.  Henry  Maynard  died  in  1837,  aged 
eighty-one  years.  This  renders  it  positive  that  Mr.  Straw- 
bridge  had  been  engaged  in  preaching  regularly  prior  to 
1762." 

This  last  sentence  seems  to  show  reckless  reckoning. 
"  This  "  does  not  "  render  it  positive"  upon  Dr.  Eoberts's  own 
showing,  "that  Mr.  Strawbridge  had  been  preaching  regu- 
larly "  in  Maryland  "  prior  to  1762."  Granting  for  the  mo- 
ment what  Eoberts  asserts,  namely,  that  "  Henry  Maynard  was 
baptized  when  he  was  but  six  or  fieveii  years  old,"  and  that 
he  "  died  in  1837,  aged  eighty-one  years,"  we  are  brought 
by  correct  computation  from  these  data  to  the  year  1763  as 
authoritatively  as  to  1762.  Yet  ignoring  this  plain  fact,  Eob- 
erts declares  that  it  is  hereby  made  certain  that  Strawbridge 
preached  in  Maryland  in  1762.  Fort  did  not  calculate  so 
loosely,  but  said  that  Strawbridge  "  in  1762  or  1763  baptized 
Henry  Maynard." 

The  age  of  the  boy  at  the  time  it  is  claimed  that  the  Irish 
local  preacher  baptized  him  is  uncertain.  Dr.  Eoberts  does 
not  say  that  he  was  then  six  or  that  he  was  seven  years  old, 
but  that  "  he  was  but  six  or  seven."  That  is  to  say,  we  do 
not  know,  as  our  narrator  obviously  did  not  know,  just  how 
old  this  subject  of  baptism  was,  when,  "  at  a  spring,"  he  re- 
ceived the  sacred  rite. 

Whence  did  Dr.  Eoberts  derive  these  alleged  facts? 
From  whom  did  Mr.  Fort  receive  the  story?  We  do  not 
know.  Neither  Fort  nor  Eoberts  indicates  the  character  of 
the  authority  upon  which  their  assertions  herein  are  based. 
Dr.  Eoberts  merely  says :  "  From  another  communication  I 
ascertain  that  Henry  Maynard  was  baptized  (by  Mr.  Straw- 
bridge)  when  he  was  but  six  or  seven  years  old."     Who  was 


\ 


32 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


tlie  author  of  that  "  communication  ?  "  Or  was  it  like  the 
Evans  document  in  this  case,  unsigned?  Was  the  "com- 
munication "  written  at  or  soon  after  the  time  of  the  baptism, 
or  was  it  written  long  after  the  event,  when  the  writer's  mem- 
ory was  dimmed  by  age?  AYe  cannot  tell.  Was  the  author 
of  the  communication  a  person  of  clear  intelligence,  sound 
memory,  and  perfect  reliability?  We  know  not.  We  only 
know  that  the  writer  had  not  definite  knowledge  of  the  boy's 
age  at  the  time  he  was  baptized,  or  he  would  not  have  said 
that  "  he  was  but  six  or  seven  years  old." 

At  what  age,  in  Strawbridge's  view,  a  child  ceased  to  be  a 
proper  subject  of  infant  baptism,  is  uncertain.  He  did  not 
submit  to  ecclesiastical  authority  in  administering  the  sacra- 
ments. There  is  no  evidence  that  he  ever  received  ordina- 
tion. Therefore  he  was  a  law  unto  himself.  If  he  deemed  it 
right  to  baptize  a  child  of  six  or  seven  years  as  an  infant,  he 
might  have  believed  himself  justified  in  baptizing  one  as  such 
who  had  come  to  the  age  of  ten  or  more  years.  In  a  leading 
Methodist  journal — the  Nashville  Christian  Advocate  of  July 
21,  1892— a  correspondent  inquires,  "  Should  children  twelve 
years  old  receive  infant  baptism  ?  "  The  editor  answers  : 
"  We  doubt  whether  in  any  case  it  should  be  done."  But 
suppose  Strawbridge  did  not  so  doubt.  The  baptism  itself 
proves  nothing  as  to  Maynard's  age  at  the  time  when  he  re- 
ceived it. 

Maynard,  though  but  a  boy,  may  have  been  a  professed 
believer,  and  Roberts  says  nothing  to  the  contrary,  nor  does 
Fort.  If  he  was  baptized  as  a  believer,  he  may  have  been  at 
the  time  of  the  event  more  than  six  or  seven  or  even  twelve 
years  old.  We  are  warranted  in  stating  these  questions  be- 
cause we  have  no  knowledge  of  the  character  of  the  "commu- 
nication "  from  which  the  story  of  Maynard  is  derived,  nor 
of  the  trustworthiness  of  the  memory,  or  of  the  veracity,  of 
the  person  who  related  it. 

In  all  of  the  contention  in  behalf  of  the  alleged  antece- 
dence of  Strawbridge  there  is  a  want  of  the  certainty  which 
can  be  derived  only  from  primitive,  authentic,  and  dated 
documents.     The  case  rests  wholly  upon  tradition.     No  doc- 


INACCURACY   OF  TRADITION 


33 


I ) 


^ 


uments  dated  within  three  or  four  decades  of  the  origin  of 
Strawbridge's  society  have  been  produced  to  prove  its  chron- 
ological precedence.     The   fickleness  and   treachery  of  the 
human  memory  is  proverbial,  and  renders  tradition  somewhat 
unreliable  at  best,  and  especially  when  it  is  not  corroborated 
by  trustworthy  records.     W^e  are  indeed  obliged  to  receive 
much  historical  data  from   tradition,  because  in  numerous 
cases  it  is  our  only  guide.    But  when,  as  in  this  case,  we  have 
dates  that  are  established  by  authenticated  writings  on  the 
one  hand,  and  only  tradition  on  the  other,  we  cannot  allow 
tradition,  which  is  but  hearsay,  to  discredit  the  evidence  of 
primitive,  authentic,  unimpeached,  and  incontrovertible  rec- 
ords.    Tradition,  while  reliable  in  its  main  outlines,  is  com- 
monly uncertain  as  to  particular  facts.     This  arises  from  the 
liability  to  misapprehension  by  those  who  from  time  to  time 
receive  it,  and  to  the  changed  form  which  it  inevitably  as- 
sumes in  passing  from  lip  to  lip  through  a  lengthened  period. 
Imperfection  of  memory  in  those  who  transmit  a  story  orally, 
through  a  generation   or  two,  always  impairs  its   integrity. 
Tradition  is  sadly  prone  to  mix  error  and  truth  so  as  to  con- 
fuse, and  even  partially  discredit,  the  latter.     This,  as  former 
pages  show,  is  true  of  the  Maryland  traditions  ;  and  there- 
fore we  may  not  accept  an  earlier  date  of  the  commencement 
of  StraAvbridge's  ministry  in  that  province  than  can  be  vindi- 
cated by  authoritative  documentary  evidence. 
3 


CHAPTEE  11. 

TESTIMONIES    FROM     PRIMITIYE    SOURCES     CONCERNING    THE    BE- 
GINNING  OF   THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA. 

Having  examined  what  has  been  set  forth  in  behalf  of  an 
alleged  earlier  origin   of  the  Wesleyan  movement   in   this 
country  than  that  which  has  commonly  been  received,  I  shall 
now  proceed  to  produce  evidence  to  prove  the  three  follow- 
ing propositions  :  First,  that  there  is  sufficient  ground  for  the 
assumption  that  neither  Robert  Strawbridge  nor  his  wife, 
who  came  with  him  to  America  and  who  survived  him  many 
years— certainly  above  a  decade— ever  claimed  that  his  min- 
istry at  Pipe  Creek  began  before  Embury  entered  upon  his 
evangelical  labors  in  New  York.     Second,  that  one  of  the 
earliest  ministerial  contemporaries  of  Strawbridge  here  has 
shown  that  the  Methodist  Society  formed  in  New  York  in 
1766  was  antecedent  to  that  in  Maryland  ;  and  third,  that 
the  uniform  testimony  of  the  fathers  of  Methodism  in  this 
land  is  to  the  chronological  precedence  of  the  work  of  Philip 
Embin-y  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  Rev.  'William  Colbert  was  a  native  of  Maryland,  and 
a  leader  in  the  field  when  Methodism  here  was  young.  He 
was  an  able,  laborious,  and  successful  itinerant,  and  a  con- 
temporary of  several  of  the  earliest  Methodists  of  Maryland. 
He  was  an  early  colleague  and  cherished  friend  of  Henry 
Boehm,  one  of  the  travelling  companions  of  Bishop  Asbury 
and  the  centenarian  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  I 
well  remember  in  my  association  with  the  venerable  Boehm 
with  what  affectionate  interest  he  would  recur  to  his  minis- 
terial intercourse  with  Colbert.  He  pronounced  him  "a 
sound  divine  and  a  great  revivalist."  I  have  carefully  exam- 
ined Colbert's  manuscript  diary,  and  it  evinces  the  intelli- 


i 


COLBERT  visits   MRS.   STRAWBRIDGE 


35 


I 


gence,  activity,  and  force  which  he  displayed  in  his  fine  min- 
isterial career. 

Now  Mr.  Colbert  personally  knew  Mrs.  Strawbridge.  He 
visited  her  at  least  once.  It  was  in  1792.  At  that  time  he 
must  have  been  familiar  with  the  historical  sketch  of  Meth- 
odism published  in  the  successive  editions  of  the  Discipline 
of  his  Church,  and  also  he  must  have  noted  that  it  seems  to 
accord  the  priority  to  Embury.  Prior  to  that  visit  probably 
he  had  read  in  the  Disciplinary  sketch  of  1791  that  Em- 
bury formed  his  society  in  1766.  He  was  then  laboring  in 
Harford  Circuit,  a  field  that  had  been  consecrated  by  the 
toils  and  achievements  of  Robert  Strawbridge,  and  no  doubt 
he  held  friendly  conversations  with  various  persons  who  knew 
that  evangelist  in  the  early  days  of  his  American  ministry. 
A  man  so  mentally  bright  as  Colbert,  and  so  zealous  in  the 
Methodist  cause,  in  visiting  the  widow  of  the  Wesleyan 
pioneer  of  Maryland  probably  would  converse  with  her 
about  her  departed  companion  and  his  work.  Such  con- 
versation, one  would  think,  would  naturally  revert  to  the 
question  of  priority,  and  especially  so  if  Mrs.  Strawbridge 
had  knowledge  that  to  her  husband  it  belonged.  If  he  orig- 
inated  Methodism  in  America  she  had  good  opportunities  to 
know  it.  Robert  Strawbridge  knew  Robert  WiUiams,  the 
first  Wesleyan  preacher  that  came  hither  after  Methodism 
rose  here,  and  who,  in  his  early  American  itinerancy  al- 
ternated between  New  York  and  Maryland.  In  New  York 
Williams  was  a  coadjutor  of  Embury  ;  in  Maryland,  of  Straw- 
bridge.  Captain  Webb  was  Embury's  great  helper  in  New 
York  and  he  also  labored  in  Maryland.  Richard  Boardman 
was  in  New^  York  with  Embury,  and  he  was  in  Maryland  as 
early  as  1772."^'  Joseph  Pilmoor  was  much  in  New  York  as 
one  of  Wesley's  first  missionaries,  and  w^e  know,  too,  that  he 
and  Strawbridge  were  together  in  Philadelphia,  and  that  in 
1772  he  travelled  in  the  latter's  field.  Thus,  in  the  first 
years  of  the  American  work,  there  was  much  intercourse 
between  the  Methodists  of  New  York  and  those  of  Maryland 
through  the  preachers  who  toiled  in  both  provinces.     What 

*  Asbury's  Journal,  vol.  L,  p.  57. 


36 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


more  natural  than  that  in  both  fields  those  preachers  should 
converse  about  the  Wesleyan  movement  in  the  land  and 
of  the  place  and  time  of  its  origin.  Indeed,  it  is  possible 
that  Strawbridge  was  in  New  York  and  in  personal  inter- 
course with  Embury,  as  he  visited  Philadelphia  in  the  begin- 
ning of  1770,  a  fact  which  hitherto  has  not  received  public 
historical  record.  If  he  formed  the  first  society  on  this  con- 
tinent, he,  under  these  conditions,  could  scarcely  have  avoided 
knowing  it,  and  in  that  case,  others,  through  him,  would  have 
known  it,  especially  Mrs.  Strawbridge.  Cherishing  the  mem- 
ory of  her  husband,  as  no  doubt  she  did,  would  she  not  have 
been  ready  to  speak  of  a  fact  which,  if  known,  would  gild  his 
name  with  unfading  lustre  ?  Would  she  not  have  been  apt 
to  refer  to  an  event  so  illustrious  in  his  ministry  in  her  con- 
versations with  M(  thodist  preachers,  when  the  work  he  be- 
gan had  grown  into  a  considerable  and  an  increasing  church  ? 
After  his  visit  to  Mrs.  Strawbridge,  Colbert  took  up  his 
pen  and  under  the  date  of  Febmary  24,  1792,  he  wrote  in 
his  diary  these  words:  "Visited  Sister  Strawbridge,  the 
widow  of  one  of  the  first  Methodist  preachers  that  appeared 

in  America." 

This  is  all  that  William  Colbert  saw  fit  to  record  concern- 
ing what  may  be  called  a  historic  interview  over  a  hundred 
years  ago.  That  brief  record  my  eyes  have  scanned  where 
his  long-vanished  hand  traced  it  in  ink.  He  wrote,  as  prob- 
ably he  preached,  with  pertinence  and  terseness.  He  put 
all  he  had  to  say  of  his  visit  with  Mrs.  Strawbridge  into  a 
sentence  of  sixteen  significant  words  which  bear  strongly 
upon  the  question  of  priority.  If  she  believed  that  her  hus- 
band formed  the  first  society  in  America  would  not  her 
pastoral  visitor,  who  was  then  laboring  in  the  field  where 
he  toiled,  have  been  likely  to  hear  it  from  her  lips?  If 
Colbert  had  learned  from  Stravvbridge's  contemporaries  and 
spiritual  children  that  he  himself  knew  of  his  antecedence  to 
Embury,  would  not  Colbert,  in  his  conversation  with  Mrs. 
Strawbridge,  probably  have  referred  to  an  event  so  hon- 
orable to  the  name  and  so  conducive  to  the  fame  of  her 
sainted  companion?     And  in  that  case  would  not  the  record 


THE  BROWN   FAMILY   AND   STRAWBRIDGE 


37 


in  his  diary  probably  have  been  something  like  this  :  Visited 
Sister  Strawbridge,  the  widow  of  the  first  Methodist  preacher 
that  ajDpeared  in  America?  Would  not  Mr.  Colbert  have 
felt  honored  in  recording  such  a  fact  ?  Instead  of  doing 
this,  however,  he  simply  wrote  this  lucid  sentence  :  "  Visited 
Sister  Strawbridge,  the  widow  of  one  of  the  first  Methodist 
preachers  that  appeared  in  America."  This  sentence  by  Col- 
bert is  probably  the  only  word  extant  which  appears  to  have 
emanated  from  the  Strawbridge  household ;  and  it  does  not 
uphold  the  claim  that  Strawbridge's  society  was  antecedent 
to  Embury's. 

The  Bev.  George  Brown,  D.D.,  was  an  eminent  minister 
and  a  presiding  elder  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and 
afterward  entered  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist  Protestant 
Church.  He  joined  the  itinerancy  from  Baltimore  in  1815, 
and  his  first  circuit  was  Anne  Arundel,  in  W  estern  Maryland, 
and  in  the  region  where  Strawbridge  labored.  His  grand- 
father settled  at  Pipe  Creek  long  before  the  days  of  Straw- 
bridge,  and  there  his  father  lived  through  the  period  of  Straw- 
bridge's  career  in  America.  Dr.  Brown  was  above  nineteen 
years  of  age  at  his  father's  death,  and  therefore  had  good  op- 
portunity to  learn  from  him  facts  concerning  early  Method- 
ism at  Pipe  Creek.  On  this  subject  he,  in  his  "  Kecollections 
of  Itinerant  Life,"  says  :  "  My  father,  from  the  days  of  Bob- 
ert  Strawbridge  to  the  day  of  his  death,  had  been  a  con- 
sistent member  of  the  Methodist  Church.  My  father  and 
mother  belonged  to  the  first  class  of  Methodists  ever  formed 
in  Maryland.  It  was  organized  by  Bobert  Strawbridge." 
Brown  here  only  claims  that  Strawbridge's  society  was  the 
first  in  Marvland.  He  does  not  intimate  that  it  was  the  first 
in  America.  His  parents  were  neighbors  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Strawbridge  as  well  as  members  of  the  society,  and  if  ante- 
cedence to  Embury  was  claimed  by  them  it  w^ould  seem  that 
the  Brown  family  should  have  heard  of  it. 

I  shall,  in  the  second  place,  proceed  to  show  that  almost 
the  earliest  ministerial  contemporary  of  Bobert  Strawbridge 
in  this  country  accorded  the  priority  to  the  movement  in 
New  York. 


38 


THE  WESLEYAN  MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


PILMOOR'S  TESTIMONY 


39 


Joseph  Pilmoor  landed  in  New  Jersey,  October  21,  1769, 
and  entered  upon  the  work  which  Mr.  Wesley  sent  him  to 
do.  "Within  three  months  thereafter  he  became  acquainted 
with  Kobert  Strawbriclge  in  Philadelphia,  as  his  Journal 
attests.  Having  come  so  recently  to  the  country  to  toil  in 
and  for  the  AVesleyan  cause  Pilmoor,  with  his  intelligence 
and  mental  alertness,  would,  one  would  suppose,  have  sought 
to  obtain  from  Strawbridge  information  as  to  how  long  and  to 
what  extent  he  had  labored  for  the  same  cause  in  the  Mary- 
land wilderness.  Here,  too,  in  the  fall  of  1769  and  later,  Pil- 
moor was  in  close  association  with  Captain  Webb,  who  also 
seems  to  have  known  Strawbridge  at  this  time,  and  who  was 
with  Embury  in  New  York  soon  after  he  formed  his  society. 
Mr.  Pilmoor,  therefore,  had  opportunity  to  ascertain  what 
certainly  he  must  have  wished  to  know,  namely,  whether  the 
Wesleyan  movement  in  this  continent  began  in  New  York  or 
in  Marvland. 

I  have  just  said  that  Captain  Webb  appears  to  have 
known  Strawbridge  at  that  early  day.  The  authority  for 
this  statement  is  Mr.  Pilmoor,  who  in  his  Journal,  under  the 
date  of  November  4,  1769,  refers  to  the  captain's  arrival  in 
Philadelphia  from  Wilmington  with  a  report  of  success  *'  in 
turning  men  from  darkness  unto  light."  He  adds:  "The 
work  of  God  begun  by  him  and  Mr.  Strawbridge,  a  local 
preacher  from  Ireland,  soon  spread  through  the  greater  part 
of  Baltimore  County  and  several  hundreds  of  people  were 
brought  to  repentance  and  turned  unto  the  Lord."  It  thus 
appears  that  within  four  years  after  the  origin  of  the  move- 
ment in  New  York  Pilmoor  had  knowledge  of  its  existence 
and  })rogress  in  Maryland,  and  also  had  been  in  personal 
intercourse  with  both  Webb  and  Strawbridge.  He  must 
have  been  strangely  indifferent  to  the  history  of  the  cause 
which  had  been  established  so  recently  in  the  land,  and  which 
he  had  crossed  the  ocean  to  serve,  if  in  his  conversations 
with  the  founders  thereof  he  failed  to  become  informed  con- 
cerning the  place  and  time  of  its  origin. 

We  are  warranted,  then,  in  assuming  that  Pilmoor  early 
learned  whether  Methodism  in  this  country  began  in  Mary- 


i 


land  or  in  New  York.     On  this  point  he  delivers  important 
testimony.     This  is  what  in  his  Journal  he  says  about  it : 

"  The  work  of  God,  which  has  so  wonderfully  spread  in  a 
few  years  through  most  parts  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
lately  reached  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  This  was  brought 
about  by  means  of  several  poor  people  that  had  been  in  com- 
munion with  the  Methodists  in  Europe  who  went  to  settle 
in  that  country.  After  some  time  they  were  joined  by  Mr. 
William  Lupton,  a  gentleman  of  considerable  property  in 
New  York,  and  not  long  after  by  Mr.  Thomas  Webb,  who 
became  a  preacher  among  them  and  helped  them  much.  As 
they  met  with  great  encouragement  and  found  the  people  of 
New  York  very  desirous  of  hearing,  they  resolved  to  build  a 
chapel  and  did  all  in  their  power  to  promote  the  work." 

Pilmoor  here  ascribes  the  origin  of  the  Wesleyan  move- 
ment on  this  side  of  the  sea  to  "  several  poor  people  "  who 
came  hither  to  settle.  AVho  were  they?  The  answer  is 
given  in  an  account  of  themselves  which  they  related  to  the 
Honorable  Eobert  Monkton,  Governor  of  New  York,  in  a 
petition  which  they  addressed  to  him  February  1,  1763,  and 
which  is  still  preserved  in  the  archives  of  that  common- 
wealth.    They  said : 

"  All  your  petitioners  except  William  Folk,  are  natives  of 
the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  and  all  of  the  established  Church  of 
England,  and  before  their  departure  thence  they  formed  a 
scheme  of  settling  in  this  country.     Eight  of  your  petitioners 
beino-  bred  to  the  business  of  the  linen  and  hempen  manu- 
factii^re  in  every  branch  thereof,  they  proposed  to  use  their 
best   endeavors  toward  the  introduction  and  promotion   of 
that  branch  in  such  place  as  they  should  find  encouragement 
to  settle  in  for  this  purpose.     Before  their  departure  from 
the  said  kin<^dom  they  formed  themselves  into  a  company, 
and  about  t^vo  years  and  a  half  ago  arrived  in  this  province. 
Soon  after  their  arrival  they  made  application  to  the  Honor- 
able Cadwallader  Colden,  Esq.,  then  Commander-in-chief  of 


40 


THE   WESLEYAN  MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


this  province,  with  a  view  of  obtaining  a  tract  of  land  to  form 
a  settlement  on  for  the  purpose  aforesaid,  but  by  reason  of 
their  ignorance  of  the  situation  of  this  province  and  of  their 
not  being  able  to  find  out  where  any  vacant  land  lay,  your 
petitioners  were  at  that  time  disappointed  in  their  expecta- 
tions of  obtaining  such  grant. 

"  Your  petitioners  have  ever  since  used  their  utmost  en- 
deavors to  find  out  a  tract  of  land  whereon  they  could  form  a 
settlement ;  for  by  their  continual  residence  in  this  city  of 
New  York,  where  they  were  obliged  to  remain  in  order  to 
support  themselves  and  their  families,  they  were  dejmved  of 
such  a  knowledge  of  the  interior  parts  of  this  province  as 
would  enable  them  to  proceed  with  certainty  toward  the  ob- 
taining of  a  grant  of  lands  proper  for  their  settlement.  De- 
spairing of  coming  at  the  knowledge  of  such  tract  they  were 
under  the  necessity  of  causing  an  advertisement  to  be  in- 
serted in  one  of  the  public  newspapers  of  this  colony,  signi- 
fying that  they  wanted  such  a  tract  of  land  for  their  settle- 
ment, in  pursuance  of  wliicii  they  have  since  received  several 
proposals  to  purchase  several  tracts  of  land,  none  of  which  on 
the  terms  proposed  to  them  they  could  comply  with  without 
depriving  themselves  of  a  probability  of  being  able  to  carry 
on  the  branch  of  manufacture  as  first  intended.  Upon  the 
encouragement  your  Excellency  was  pleased  to  give  to  some 
of  your  petitioners  they  have  at  length  found  that  there  is  a 
tract  of  land  fit  for  their  settlement  which  is  vested  in  the 
Crown  and  is  situate,  lying  and  being  in  the  County  of 
Albany  to  the  westward  of  the  patent  of  Queensbury  lately 
granted  to  Daniel  Prindle  and  others  on  both  sides  of  a 
branch  of  Hudson's  river  which  runneth  northwardly ; 
bounded  northerly  by  vacant  lands  and  lands  which  are  pe- 
titioned for,  and  southerly  by  Hudson's  river.  Said  tract  of 
land  your  petitioners  are  desirous  of  obtaining  in  the  quan- 
tity of  twenty-five  thousand  acres  in  order  to  cultivate  and 
improve  the  same,  and  whereon  they  would  engage  to  form 
an  immediate  settlement  ;  which  settlement  they  purpose 
should  be  as  soon  as  possible  after  a  grant  may  be  obtained  ; 
which  settlement  they  purpose  should  consist  not  only  of 


EMBUIIY   OBTAINS   A   GRANT   OF   LAND 


41 


themselves  and  their  families,  but  likewise  of  many  other 
persons— their  friends  in  the  said  kingdom  of  Ireland  whom 
they  have  the  greatest  reason  to  think  would  immediately 
remove  hither  provided  your  petitioners  were  able  to  accom- 
modate them  with  a  competent  part  of  the  said  lands  of  their 
settlement.  Your  petitioners  therefore  humbly  pray  that 
your  Excellency  will  be  favorably  pleased  by  his  Majesty's 
letters-patent  to  grant  unto  your  petitioners  respectively,  and 
to  their  respective  heirs  and  assigns,  the  quantity  of  one 
thousand  acres  of  the  tract  of  land  above  described  under 
such  quit-rent  provisos  and  restrictions  as  are  contained  in 
his  Majesty's  instructions." 

This  aged  document,  which  antedates  by  three  years  the 
beginniug'^of  Methodism  in  America,  bears  the  signatures  of 
Philip  Embury,  John  Embury,  David  Embury,  Peter  Em- 
bury, Paul  Heck,  Jacob  Dulmidge,  Sen.,  Jacob  Dulmidge, 
Jr.,  Valentine  Dettler,  William  Folk,  Edward  Carscallen,  and 
fifteen  others.     "  A  committee  of  his  Majesty's  Council,  at 
Fort  George,  in  the  city  of  New  York,"  on  May  12, 1763,  rec- 
ommended to  the  Governor  that  a  grant  of  four  hundred  acres 
should  be  made  to  each  of  these  twenty-five  petitioners  in 
case  they  gave  security  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  Excellency 
that  they  would  settle  twenty-five  families  thereon  within 
three  years  after  the  date  of  the  grant.     Finding,  however, 
that  tiie  lands  were  not  suited  to  their  purpose,  some  of 
them  petitioned  for  another  grant,  which  was  accorded  to 
them  on  March  13,  1765,  comprising  eight  thousand  acres. 
The  legal  record  of  the  conveyance  of  this  land  to  Phihp 
Embury,  Peter  Embury,  James  Wilson,  John  Wilson,  George 
Wilson,  Moses  Cowen,  and  Thomas  Porter  is  dated  the  31st 

of  October,  1765. 

It  is  apparent  that  in  this  company  of  Irish  emigrants 
were  the  "  several  poor  people  "  who  Pilmoor  says  extended 
the  "  work  of  God  "  known  as  Methodism  over  the  sea.  They 
were  joined  by  William  Lupton  he  declares,  a  man  "  of  con- 
siderable property  in  New  York,  and  not  long  after  by 
Thomas  Webb.     They  found  the  people  of  New  York  very 


42 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


GARPwETTSON'S  TESTIMONY 


43 


desirous  of  hearing.  They  resolved  to  build  a  chapel  and 
did  all  in  their  power  to  promote  the  work."  Such  is  Pil- 
moor's  testimony  to  the  priority  of  New  York. 

In  the  third  and  last  place  I  will  show  that  the  earliest 
documentary  and  oral  testimony  of  the  fathers  of  Method- 
ism in  this  country  was  in  favor  of  the  antecedence  of  the 

New  York  society. 

We  have  just  seen  that  Pilmoor,  who  knew  Strawbridge 
and  was  closely  associated  with  Captain  AVebb  two  years 
before  Asbury  came  hither;  who  as  pastor  had  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  society  in  New  York  four  years  after  Em- 
bury formed  it,  and  who  labored  in  Strawbridge's  field  in 
177-2 ;  Pilmoor,  with  all  these  opportunities  for  getting  ac- 
curate knowledge,  states  that  Methodism  was  projected  over 
"the  Atlantic  Ocean"  by  means  of  "several  poor  people" 
who  planted  it  in  New  York. 

AYilliam  Watters  was  an  early  Methodist  convert  in  Mary- 
land, entered  the  itinerancy  in  1772,  and  was  familiar  with 
the  history  of  the  movement  in  that  province.  In  his  "  Auto- 
biography "  (p.  109)  he  says :  "  Eichard  Owen  was  awakened 
under  the  preaching  of  Eobert  Strawbridge,  who  with  one 
more,  PliHi})  Embury,  were  the  first  Methodist  preachers  in 
America."  If  Strawbridge  was  first  in  this  field  Watters 
should  have  known  it.  Had  he  known  it  probably  he  would 
havo  mentioned  it  here. 

William  Colbert,  fresh  from  an  interview  with  Mrs.  Straw- 
bridge,  testified  to  the  same  purport  by  writing  of  her  hus- 
band ill  his  diary,  not  as  the  first,  but  as  ''one  of  the  first 
Methodist  preachers  that  appeared  in  America." 

Freeborn  Garrettson  first  met  the  Methodist  preachers  in 
Maryland  when  he  was  seventeen  years  old,  as  he  informs  us 
in  his  "Experience  and  Travels,"  which  was  published  in 
1791,  and  also  in  his  Semi-Centennial  Sermon  preached 
before  the  New  York  Conference,  May,  1826.  Therefore 
his  first  contact  with  them  was  in  1769,  or  at  the  latest 
1770,  as  he  became  seventeen  in  August,  1769.  Garretson 
grew  to  manhood  in  Baltimore  County,  entered  the  ministry 
in  1776,  and  his  first  field  of  labor  was  Frederick  Circuit, 


I 


within  which  was  Pipe  Creek.  He  knew  Strawbridge,  and 
was  familiar,  too,  with  the  first  Methodists  of  Maryland.  In 
his  "  Semi-Centennial  Sermon  "  Garrettson  says  that  Embury 
preceded  Strawbridge.  He  refers  to  the  society  in  New  York, 
which  he  says  was  founded  in  1766  ;  adverts  to  the  build- 
ing of  the  chapel  in  John  Street,  and  then  he  declares : 
"  Some  time  after  this,  Mr.  Strawbridge,  a  local  preacher  from 
Ireland,  settled  at  a  place  called  Pipe  Creek,  in  Maryland, 
where  he  began  to  preach,  formed  a  society,  and  budt  a  log 

meeting-house." 

In  the  Discipline  of  his  Church  in  1787,  and  later.  Bishop 
Asbury  put  Embury  before  Strawbridge,  saying  that  the  latter 
settled  in  Maryland  about  the  time  the  former  began  preach- 
ing in  New  York ;  and  Ezekiel  Cooper,  in  a  funeral  sermon 
on  Asbury  which  he  preached  in  Philadelphia  in  1816,  and 
also  published  in  a  volume,  said:  ^'In  New  York,  where  the 
first  society  was  formed   by  Philip  Embury."     Cooper  was 
a  native  of  Maryland  and  was  intimately  associated  with  the 
bishop  for  thirty  years.     We  have  already  seen  and  dwelt  at 
length  upon  the  testimony  of  Jesse  Lee,  a  contemporary  of 
Cooper,  and  a  chief  figure  in  the  Methodist  drama  here  for  a 
third  of  a  century,  and  who  with  his  pen  strongly  and  repeat- 
edly asserted  Embury's  precedence.    The  Eev.  Manton  Thrift, 
a  preacher  of  the  Virginia  Conference,  which  he  joined  m 
1812,  in  his  *'  Biography  of  Lee  "  (page  11),  says  that  Method- 
ism in  America  "began  in  the  city  of  New  York." 

The  Eev.  Henry  Boehm,  who  travelled  over  the  country 
with  Bishop  Asbury  five  years  and  was  his  chosen  executor, 
a  Methodist  patriarch  from  whom  I  personally  heard  much 
about  early  Methodism,  and  by  whose  side  I  stood  as  his 
amanuensis  and  spokesman  for  the  occasion,  on  his  hundredtli 
birthday,  June  8,  1875,  in  Trinity  Methodist  Episcopal 
Chui-ch,  Jersey  City,  before  a  crowded  auditory  ;— Mr.  Boehm 
bore  testimony  to  the  priority  of  the  society  formed  by  Em- 
bury in  New  York.  In  a  letter  from  his  hand,  dated  Novem- 
ber 13,  1857,  to  the  Eev.  J.  B.  Wakeley,  and  which  was 
printed  in  *'  Lost  Chapters,"  he  said :  "  I  am  now  in  my  eighty- 
third  year.     I  heard  Eobert  Strawbridge  preach  at  my  father's 


i.  1 


44 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


BOURNE  S   IMPORTANT  TESTIMONY 


45 


house  in  1779.  I  entered  the  travelling  connection  in  1801, 
and  my  first  field  of  labor  was  in  Maryland.  I  travelled  with 
Bishop  Asbury  for  five  years— from  1808  to  1813.  During 
that  time  I  was  with  Bishop  Asbury  through  Maryland  several 
times,  and  at  Pipe  Creek.  I  also  saw  the  old  Log  Meeting- 
House  in  1808,  which  had  been  converted  into  a  barn. 
Though  travelling  through  Maryland  so  frequently,  and  con- 
versing with  the  old  preachers  and  the  members  of  the  church, 
I  never  heard  any  claim  that  Methodism  in  Maryland  was 
earlier  than  in  New  York.  No  one  ever  hinted  it  in  my  pres- 
ence. It  was  universally  admitted  that  Methodism  in  New 
York  had  the  priority." 

In  almost  daily  association  with  Bishop  Asbury  for  five 
years  one  would  think  that  if  he  had  held  the  belief  of  the 
priority  of  Strawbridge  Mr.  Boehm  would  have  heard  it. 

In  accordance  with  these  statements  of  the  venerable 
Boehm  is  the  testimony  of  Mr.  George  Bourne.  George 
Bom-ne  was  a  proprietor  of  a  newspaper  called  the  Baltimore 
Evening  Post  and  Mercantile  Daily  Advertiser,"^  and  in  1807 
he  published  a  Life  of  Mr.  Wesley.  To  that  work,  which 
comprises  an  octavo  volume,  he  appended  a  "  Comprehensive 
History  of  American  Methodism,"  which,  with  the  exception  of 
that  issued  with  the  Discipline  in  1787-1792  inclusive,  is  the 
earliest  account  of  the  denomination  printed  in  this  country 
of  which  I  have  knowledge.  It  was  three  years  earlier  than 
Lee's  "  History  of  the  Methodists,"  and,  like  it,  it  came 
forth  from  Baltimore.  The  question  even  then  was  in  some 
quarters  considered  whether  the  society  in  New  York  or  in 
Maryland  was  formed  first.  Mr.  Bourne  investigated  this 
question.  Sources  of  information  were  then  accessible  that 
were  both  primitive  and  authoritative.  John  Evans,  the 
alleged  time  of  whose  conversion  under  Strawbridge  I  have 
already  discussed  in  these  pages,  and  who  undoubtedly  was 
one  of  the  early  Methodist  converts  at  Pipe  Creek,  was  then 
living  and  could  be  consulted  in  person  or  in  writing.  In- 
deed Mr.  Evans  lived  until  February  13,  1827,  as  the  inscrip- 
tion on  his  gravestone  attests.      Henry  Maynard,  too,  w^as 

*  Scharf's  Chronicles  of  Baltimore,  p.  88. 


i    \ 


living  then.  Numerous  other  witnesses,  of  both  the  ministry 
and  laity,  who  were  familiar  with  the  facts  relating  to  the 
origin  of  Methodism  in  Maryland  were  then  here  to  testify 
concerning  them.  Surely  that  was  a  very  favorable  time  for 
securing  data  by  which  to  determine  this  question.  Mr. 
Bourne  improved  his  opportunity.  The  result  he  gave  in 
1807  in  his  "  History  of  American  Methodism  "  as  follows  : 
"  It  has  long  been  a  question  with  the  curious  who  are  anx- 
ious to  know  every  circuQi stance  connected  with  the  com- 
mencement of  Methodism  in  the  United  States,  whether  the 
first  society  was  established  in  Maryland  or  New  York. 
After  the  most  accurate  research  the  information  I  have  pro- 
cured induces  me  to  believe  that  a  Methodist  Society  was 
formed  at  New  York  at  least  nine  or  twelve  months  previous 
to  the  first  that  was  collected  by  Mr.  Strawbridge."  *  Thus 
this  early  historian  in  Maryland  concedes  to  Embury  the 
priority.     Bourne  and  Jesse  Lee  herein  perfectly  agree. 

Mrs.  Dulmage,  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Rev.  Samuel  Coate, 
died  in  Canada  in  the  winter  of  1809-10.  Coate  was  a  pastor 
in  Baltimore  from  1802  to  1804.  In  a  letter  to  the  Bev.  Joseph 
Benson,  published  in  the  London  Methodist  Magazine,  Coate 
described  Mrs.  Dulmage's  triumphant  death,  and  says  :  "  She 
was  a  sister  of  the  first  Methodist  who  ever  received  meetings 
into  his  house  in  New  York  (Philip  Embury)  or  in  America." 

The  second  John  Street  Church  in  New  York  was  dedi- 
cated January  4,  1818.  Nathan  Bangs  preached  on  that  oc- 
casion. In  his  sermon  was  the  following  utterance  :  "  The 
first  Methodist  Society  was  formed  in  this  city  (which  indeed 
was  the  first  in  America)  in  the  year  1766."  Dr.  Bangs  has 
elsewhere  told  us  that  when  this  sermon  was  preached  in 
John  Street,  Hannah  Dean  Hick,  who  was  a  member  of  that 
society  before  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  reached  these  shores, 
was  still  there.  Other  primitive  New  York  Methodists  were 
then  there.  Asbury,  who  for  four  and  forty  years  was  so  much 
among  his  fiiends  in  New  York,  had  been  in  his  grave  less 

*  The  Life  of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley,  A.M.,  with  Memoirs  of  the  Wesley  Family,  to 
which  are  subjoined  Dr.  Whitehead's  Funeral  Sermon,  and  a  Comprehensive  History 
of  American  Methodism.     By  George  Bourne.    Baltimore,  1807,  p.  322. 


46 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


than  two  years.  Yet  on  this  great  day  of  dedication,  when 
the  occupants  of  the  latter  temple  were  necessarily  led  to 
think  of  the  former  and  humbler  temple  and  its  first  wor- 
shippers, the  fact  that  the  society  which  Embury  formed  was 
the  first  in  America  appears  to  have  been  unclouded  by  a 
doubt.  If  Asbury  believed  that  the  Maryland  Methodists 
were  antecedent  to  Embury's  society  it  would  seem  that  he 
had  not  published  it  in  New  York,  as  he  obviously  did  not 
assert  it  to  his  travelling  companion,  the  Eev.  Henry  Boehm. 
Asbury 's  close  friend,  Thomas  Morrell,  who  early  labored  in 
both  New  York  and  Baltimore,  accords  to  Embury  the  pri- 
ority in  his  Journal. 

What  was  the  cause  of  this  early  and  general  agreement  of 
testimony  respecting  the  historical  precedence  of  the  society 
of  Embury  ?  It  must  have  been  because  from  the  beginning 
it  was  well  understood  that  he  was  in  advance  of  any  other 
person  in  planting  Methodism  in  America.  This  having  been 
confessed  when  the  sources  of  true  data  were  new  and  easily 
consulted,  the  unanimity  of  the  testimony  thereto  followed 
inevitably.  Strawbridge  lived  and  preached  in  this  country 
for  about  fifteen  years  after  the  movement  began,  and  his 
wife  long  survived  him.  Then  surely  there  was  no  need  that 
a  mistake  should  exist  among  the  early  American  Methodists 
as  to  the  time  and  the  place  of  the  origin  of  their  cause. 

I  have  thus  discussed  at  length  the  long-debated  question 
concerning  luhen  and  cohere  Methodism  first  arose  in  America. 
It  is  apparent  that  there  is  very  little  evidence  of  any  kind — 
it  might  almost  be  said  none  whatever — to  support  the  claim 
that  Strawbridge's  society  was  the  first.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  proof  that  New  York  Methodism  was  anterior  to  that  at 
Pipe  Creek  is  clear,  direct,  cumulative,  and  convincing.  A 
succession  of  impartial  witnesses  of  the  highest  credibility, 
from  the  south  and  from  the  north,  from  the  time  of  Straw- 
bridge  and  Embury  to  the  opening  of  the  second  John  Street 
Church,  unite  in  establishing  this  fact.  That  the  Wesleyan 
movement  in  America  began  in  New  York  seems  indisputable 
in  the  light  of  the  evidence  of  tradition  and  of  the  earliest 
authoritative  documents. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   HISTORIC   GERMAN-IRISH   EMIGRATION. 

Philip  Embury  and  a  number  of  other  German-Irishmen 
of  Ballingran  looked  toward  this  broad  land,  in  1760,  as  an 
inviting  field  for  a  manufacturing  industry,  which  they  de- 
signed unitedly  to  establish.  We  now  come  to  the  pregnant 
event  of  the  sailing  of  those  people  from  the  Irish  shore  to 
the  Western  World. 

On  a  summer  day  in  1760  a  ship  lay  at  a  pier  in  Limer- 
ick, about  to  sail  for  New  York.  It  contained  a  company  of 
emigrants,  which  consisted  of  Philip  Embury  and  Margaret, 
his  wife,"  Paul  Heck  and  his  wife  Barbara,  John  Embury, 
David  Embury,  Peter  Embury,  James  Wilson,  George  Wil- 
son, Samuel  Wilson,  Henry  Lower,  Philip  Cook,  Jacob  Dul- 
midge,  Sr.,  Jacob  Dulmidge,  Jr.,  Edward  Carscallen,  Nicho- 
las Shouldes,  Peter  Shouldes,  Julius  Shire,  Peter  Lawrence, 
Henry  Shire,  Valentine  Debtler,  Peter  Poff,  Valentine  Shim- 
mel,  Peter  Sparling,  Elias  Hoffmann,  and  probably  others. 
Several  of  these  had  families.  According  to  an  Irish  tradi- 
tion some  of  their  friends  came  for  a  final  leave-taking.  Mr. 
Embury  had  preached  to  them  in  their  little  chapel  in  Bal- 
lingran, and,  as  the  story  goes,  he  gave  them  a  farewell 
sermon  from  the  ship.  Some  of  them  probably  were  his  con- 
verts—seals to  his  ministry.  Doubtless  "  they  sorrowed  most 
of  all  that  they  should  see  his  face  no  more." 

The  moment  of  departure  came,  and  Embury,  the  Hecks, 
and  their  companions  receded  from  the  Irish  shore.  What 
momentous  and  eternal  interests  were  involved  in  that  voy- 
age !     They  arrived  in  New  York  harbor  on  the  tenth  or 

*  Dr.  Abel  Stevens  gives  the  Christian  name  of  Mary  to  Mrs.  Embury.  In  a 
legal  document  preserved  in  the  archives  of  New  York  which  bears  her  signature, 
as  executrix  of  Philip  Embury,  her  name  is  written  Margaret. 


48 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


eleventh  day  of  August,  1760.  The  New  York  Mercury  of 
Monday,  August  18,  1760,  contained  a  notice  of  the  arrival 
of  some  German-Irish  emigrants,  of  whom,  beyond  reason- 
able doubt,  were  the  "  several  poor  people,"  to  whom  Pil- 
moor  declared  was  due  the  origin  of  Methodism  in  America. 
The  Mercury  said :  "  The  ship  Peny,  Captain  Hogan,  arrived 
here  on  Monday  last,  in  nine  weeks  from  Limerick,  in  Ireland, 
with  a  number  of  Germans,  the  fathers  of  many  of  them  having 
settled  there  in  the  year  1710  ;  but  not  having  sufficient  scope 
in  that  country  chose  to  try  their  fortunes  in  America." 

Embury  and  some  of  his  companions   from   Ballingran 
were  Methodists.     By  trade  he  was  a  carpenter.     As  such  he 
assisted  in  building  a  Methodist  chapel  at  Court  Matrix.     At 
the  Conference  held  by  Mr.  Wesley  at  Limerick,  in  1758,  he 
was  proposed  for  the  itinerancy  and  placed  on  Wesley's  list 
of  reserves.     It  does  not  appear  that  he  was  called  into  the 
itinerant  field,  yet  in  the  local  sphere  he  continued  his  minis- 
try.    The  church  of  his  fathers  probably  was  the  Lutheran, 
as  his  ancestors  went  to  Ireland  from  the  Palatinate,  in  Ger- 
man v,  and  it  has  been  said  that  in  New  York  he  united  with 
the  Lutheran  Church.     But  it  is  stated  by  him  and  others,  in 
their  petition  in   1763  to  the  Governor  of  New  York  for 
land,  that  they  were  all  of  the  Church  of  England.     He  con- 
tinued the  worship  of  God  in  his  family,  and  no  doubt  at- 
tended upon  religious  ordinances.     We  may  suppose  that  he 
did  not  lose  all  interest  in  the  work  of  preaching,  but  ap- 
parently no  evidence  exists  that  he  preached  in  New  York 
until  the  year  1766.     Then,  in  the  order  of  the  divine  Provi- 
dence, he  was  summoned  to  act  as  the  humble  but  immortal 
instrument  of  projecting  the  most  beneficent  and  vast  relig- 
ious enterprise  which  has  ever  risen  on  this  continent.     The 
emigration  hither  of  those  "  poor  people  "  marked  an  epoch 
in  American  Christianity.     They  tarried  in  the  city  of  New 
York  several  years,  awaiting  an  opportunity  to  obtain  a  suit- 
able location  in  the  country  for  their  contemplated  business 
project.     During  this  lengthened  delay  Mrs.  Heck  and  Mr. 
Emburv  achieved  their  illustrious  work  of  founding  Methodism 
in  what  is  now  the  metropolis  of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 


ii 


I 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

BARBARA  HECK,  AND  HOW  SHE  BEGAN  THE  WESLEYAN  MOVEMENT 

IN  AMERICA. 

The  Wesleyan  branch  of  Protestantism  was  planted  in 
New  York  by  Philip  Embury  ;  but  he  had  lived  there  above 
five  years  before  he  began  the  work  which  has  given  him  a 
deathless  fame.  How  came  he,  then,  after  so  long  a  period, 
to  enter  upon  the  humble  but  sublime  undertaking  which 
has  been  prolific  of  results  so  magnificent  and  glorious  ? 

By  an  extraordinarily  well  -  attested  tradition  we  learn 
that  a  godly  Wesleyan  woman,  who  was  one  of  the  company 
of  German-Irish  emigrants  from  Ballingran,  who  sailed  from 
Limerick  in  1760,  namely,  Barbara,  Avife  of  Paul  Heck,  found 
several  of  her  friends  playing  cards.  She  stopped  their  diver- 
sion, and  then  proceeded  to  see  Emburys  and  effectually  im- 
j)lored  him  to  preach.  In  compliance  with  her  entreaty  he 
soon  preached  in  his  dwelling  to  five  auditors.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  Wesleyan  movement  in  New  York. 

The  story  of  the  way  that  Embury  was  incited  to  preach 
by  Mrs.  Heck  has  been  preserved  with  apparently  little 
variation  from  its  original  form.  Its  integrity  is  probably 
less  impaired  than  is  common  with  traditions  a  century  and 
a  quarter  old.  It  was  publicly  related  at  the  dedication 
of  the  second  John  Street  Church,  in  New  York,  on  January 
4,  1818.  It  was  printed  in  the  same  year  in  the  dedicatory 
discourse  delivered  on  that  day  by  the  Kev.  Nathan  Bangs. 
Dr.  Bangs  has  elsewhere  said  that  he  wrote  out  the  story  for 
that  occasion  as  he  received  it  from  Mr.  Paul  Hick  and  his 
"  intelligent  wife,"  Hannah  Dean,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
New  York  society  when  Embury  and  Mrs.  Heck  were  there. 


-', 


50 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


BANGS  S  ACCOUNT   OF   MRS.    HECK'S  WORK 


51 


He  states  that  after  lie  had  written  it,  he  read  it  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hick,  and  they  pronounced  it  accurate.  Bangs's  ac- 
count, as  it  appears  in  the  Dedicatory  Sermon,  is  as  follows : 

"The  first  Methodist  society  was  formed  in  this  city 
(which,  indeed,  was  the  first  in  America)  in  the  year  1766. 
There  are  some  circumstances  connected  with  the  commence- 
ment and  progress  of  this  infant  society  very  interesting  to 
those  who  take  pleasure  in  reviewing  past  events,  and  com- 
bining in  their  review  the  good  hand  of  God. 

"  In  1765  it  seems  there  were  five  emigrants  from  Ireland, 
who  had  been  members  of  the  Methodist  society  there,  set- 
tled in  this  city.     After  their  arrival,  being  among  strangers, 
separated  from  their  Christian  acquaintance,  and  not  finding 
any  spiritual  associates  here,  neglecting  also  the  assembling 
of  "themselves  together,  they  all  except  one  so  far  departed 
from  God  as  to  be  immersed  in  the  pleasures  of  sin.     Among 
their  number   was   Mr.    Philip   Embury,   a  local   preacher. 
Though  he  maintained  the  external  character  of  a  Christian 
after  liis  arrival,  he  nevertheless  in  great  measure  lost  the 
life  of  God  from  his  soul.     In  this  melancholy  state  they  re- 
mained until  the  year  following,  when  another  family,  for- 
merly connected  in  Christian  fellowship  with  those  already 
mentioned  before  their  departure  from  Ireland,  came  over. 
This  family  brought  their  piety  and  zeal  with  them.     Actu- 
ated by  an  ardent  love  for  the  Kedeemer's  honor,  the  mother 
of  the  last-mentioned  family,  who  was  also  a  true  mother  in 
Israel,  presented  herself  in  the  presence  of  those  first  men- 
tioned, who  were  amusing  themselves  with  playing  cards, 
took  the  cards  from  them,  and  with  holy  indignation  com- 
mitted them  to  the  flames.     She  then  went  to  Mr.  Embury, 
the  local  preacher,  prostrated  herself  before   him,  and  en- 
treated him  with  tears  to  call  a  meeting  and  preach  to  them, 
admonishing  him  if  he  did  not  comply  with  her  request  the 
people  would  go  to  hell  and  God  would  require  their  blood 
at  his  hand.     Overcome  by  her  arguments,  but  not  knowing 
how  to  carry  her  request  into  execution  for  want  of  adequate 
means,  the  good  man  asked,  '  Where  shall  I  preach,  and  to 


,H 


\      i 


■W 


,«: 


V 


i 


whom  ?  "We  have  neither  house  nor  congregation.'  She  re- 
plied, '  Preach  in  your  own  house,  to  our  own  company  only.' 
Accordingly  they  met  at  an  appointed  time,  six  in  all,  the 
preacher  and  five  hearers.  In  this  way,  though  their  num- 
ber gradually  increased,  they  continued  for  some  time  in 
comparative  obscurity. 

*'  The  report  of  a  Methodist  meeting  being  established 
soon  began  to  attract  attention,  and  the  number  of  hearers 
increasing,  the  dwelling-house  was  not  sufficiently  large  to 
accommodate  all  who  attended.  To  remedy  this  defect  a 
room  in  the  neighborhood  was  rented,  and  the  expense  paid 
by  voluntary  contributions." 

I  have  seen  but  one  of  the  thin  octavo  pamphlets  con- 
taining this  sermon,  and  that,  probably,  is  almost  the  only 
copy  which  has  escaped  oblivion. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  Dr.  Bangs  does  not  mention  the 
name  of  the  heroine  of  this  tradition  in  the  above  narrative. 
This  seems  extraordinary,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  he  was  de- 
scribing the  origin  of  the  society  which  he  declared  was  not 
only  the  first  in  New  York,  but  in  America,  and  which  had 
now^  come  to  a  new  stage  in  its  progress  by  the  erection  and 
dedication  of  its  second  house  of  worship  on  the  old  site. 
The  story  itself  is  a  very  striking  representation  of  valorous 
deeds  performed  in  a  unique  way  by  a  Christian  woman,  who 
thus  displayed  an  ardent  love  for  souls.  The  effect,  too,  of 
her  daring  exploit  was  momentous  and  enduring.  Bangs 
that  day  stood  among  those  who  had  known  her,  and  to  her 
he  ascribed  the  honor  of  starting  the  movement  which 
brought  the  church  into  existence.  Why,  then,  at  that  sec- 
ond dedication,  and  amidst  the  sacred  associations  and  mem- 
ories of  John  Street,  should  he  have  suppressed  her  name  ? 

Bangs  is  manifestly  in  error  respecting  the  time  of  the  ar- 
rival in  New  York  of  the  woman  who  gave  to  Embury  his 
impulse  to  preach.  He  represents  her  as  having  arrived 
from  Ireland  in  1766,  whereas  she  came  with  the  company 
that  sailed  from  Limerick  in  1760. 

A  living  grandson  of  Barbara  Heck  personally  recited  to 


60 


THE  WESLEYAN  MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


He  states  tliat  after  lie  had  written  it,  he  read  it  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs  Hick,  and  they  pronounced  it  accurate.  Bangs's  ac- 
count, as  it  appears  in  the  Dedicatory  Sermon,  is  as  follows : 

"  The  first  Methodist  society  was  formed  in  this  city 
(which,  indeed,  was  the  first  in  America)  in  the  year  1766. 
There  are  some  circumstances  connected  with  the  commence- 
ment and  progress  of  this  infant  society  very  interesting  to 
those  who  take  pleasure  in  reviewing  past  events,  and  com- 
bining in  their  review  the  good  hand  of  God. 

*'  In  1765  it  seems  there  were  five  emigrants  from  Ireland, 
who  had  been  members  of  the  Methodist  society  there,  set- 
tled in  this  city.     After  their  arrival,  being  among  strangers, 
separated  from  their  Christian  acquaintance,  and  not  findmg 
any  spiritual  associates  here,  neglecting  also  the  assembling 
of  "themselves  together,  they  all  except  one  so  far  departed 
from  God  as  to  be  immersed  in  the  pleasures  of  sin.     Among 
their  number   was   Mr.   Philip   Embury,   a  local   preacher. 
Though  he  maintained  the  external  character  of  a  Christian 
after  his  arrival,  he  nevertheless  in  great  measure  lost  the 
life  of  God  from  his  soul.     In  this  melancholy  state  they  re- 
mained until  the  year  following,  when  another  family,  for- 
merly connected  in  Christian  fellowship  with  those  already 
mentioned  before  their  departure  from  Ireland,  came  over. 
This  familv  brought  their  piety  and  zeal  with  them.     Actu- 
ated bv  an  ardent  love  for  the  Eedeemer's  honor,  the  mother 
of  the  last-mentioned  family,  who  was  also  a  true  mother  m 
Israel,  presented  herself  in  the  presence  of  those  first  men- 
tioned, who  were  amusing  themselves  with  playing  cards, 
took  the  cards  from  them,  and  with  holy  indignation  com- 
mitted them  to  the  flames.     She  then  went  to  Mr.  Embury, 
the  local  preacher,  prostrated  herself  before   him,  and  en- 
treated him  with  tears  to  call  a  meeting  and  preach  to  them, 
admonishing  him  if  he  did  not  comply  with  her  request  the 
people  would  go  to  hell  and  God  would  require  their  blood 
at  his  hand.     Overcome  by  her  arguments,  but  not  knowing 
how  to  carry  her  request  into  execution  for  want  of  adequate 
means,  the  good  man  asked,  *  Where  shall  I  preach,  and  to 


-?, 


BANGS  S  ACCOUNT  OF  MRS.    HECK'S  WORK 


61 


whom  ?  We  have  neither  house  nor  congregation.'  She  re- 
plied, '  Preach  in  your  own  house,  to  our  own  company  only.' 
Accordingly  they  met  at  an  appointed  time,  six  in  all,  the 
preacher  and  five  hearers.  In  this  way,  though  their  num- 
ber gradually  increased,  they  continued  for  some  time  in 
comparative  obscurity. 

"  The  report  of  a  Methodist  meeting  being  established 
soon  began  to  attract  attention,  and  the  number  of  hearers 
increasing,  the  dwelling-house  was  not  sufficiently  large  to 
accommodate  all  who  attended.  To  remedy  this  defect  a 
room  in  the  neighborhood  was  rented,  and  the  expense  paid 
by  voluntary  contributions." 

I  have  seen  but  one  of  the  thin  octavo  pamphlets  con- 
taining this  sermon,  and  that,  probably,  is  almost  the  only 
copy  which  has  escaped  oblivion. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  Dr.  Bangs  does  not  mention  the 
name  of  the  heroine  of  this  tradition  in  the  above  narrative. 
This  seems  extraordinary,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  he  was  de- 
scribing the  origin  of  the  society  which  he  declared  was  not 
only  the  first  in  New  York,  but  in  America,  and  which  had 
now  come  to  a  new  stage  in  its  progress  by  the  erection  and 
dedication  of  its  second  house  of  worship  on  the  old  site. 
The  story  itself  is  a  very  striking  representation  of  valorous 
deeds  performed  in  a  unique  way  by  a  Christian  woman,  who 
thus  displayed  an  ardent  love  for  souls.  The  effect,  too,  of 
her  daring  exploit  was  momentous  and  enduring.  Bangs 
that  day  stood  among  those  who  had  known  her,  and  to  her 
he  ascribed  the  honor  of  starting  the  movement  which 
brought  the  church  into  existence.  Why,  then,  at  that  sec- 
ond dedication,  and  amidst  the  sacred  associations  and  mem- 
ories of  John  Street,  should  he  have  suppressed  her  name  ? 

Bangs  is  manifestly  in  error  respecting  the  time  of  the  ar- 
rival in  New  York  of  the  woman  who  gave  to  Embury  his 
impulse  to  preach.  He  represents  her  as  having  anived 
from  Ireland  in  1766,  whereas  she  came  with  the  company 
that  sailed  from  Limerick  in  1760. 

A  living  grandson  of  Barbara  Heck  personally  recited  to 


52 


THE  WESLEYAT^   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


THE  HECK   VERSION 


53 


me,  in  the  Jolin  Street  Church,  in  New  York,  October  27, 1890, 
the  tradition,  as  it  is  preserved  and  cherished  by  her  descend- 
ants in  Canada,  of  her  sudden  dispersion  of  the  card-players 
and  her  successful  appeal  to  Embury.  This  grandson,  Mr. 
George  Heck,  is  a  son  of  the  late  Rev.  Samuel  Heck,  and 
was  born  in  1819.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  intelligence,  social 
position  and  integrity,  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church  of 
Canada,  and  resides  near  Prescott,  Ontario,  where  he  has  lived 
more  than  threescore  and  ten  years  among  the  kindred  of 
his  sainted  grandmother.  This  story  I  recorded  as  he  pro- 
nounced it.     It  is  as  follows : 

"  I  have  seen  John  Lawrence,  the  husband  of  Philip  Em- 
bury's widow,  who,  while  in  New  York  was  employed  by 
Paul  Heck,  probably  in  a  lumber-yard.  "VVe  do  not  know 
that  Paul  Heck  was  in  the  lumber  business,  but  tbink  he  was. 
John  Lawrence  was  present  when  Mrs.  Heck  appeared  among 
the  card-players  and  was  fond  of  relating  the  story  of  that 
occurrence.  I  have  frequently  heard  this  John  Lawrence's 
dauGfhter-in-law,  the  wife  of  John  Lawrence,  second,  who  was 
the  son  of  Philip  Embury's  wife  by  her  second  husband,  re- 
late the  story  as  she  received  it  from  her  father-in-law,  ilie 
John  Lawrence  who  was  present  when  my  grandmother,  Mrs. 
Barbara  Heck,  rebuked  the  card-players.  I  was  present 
when  John  Lawrence,  one  of  this  party,  died.  I  saw  him 
die.  My  eldest  sister,  Mrs.  James  Howard,  said  that  she  be- 
lieved from  her  recollection  of  the  story,  as  told  in  the  family, 
that  the  company  played  cards  in  Barbara  Heck's  kitchen, 
and  that  it  was  there  that  she  found  them  and  gave  them  a 
reproof. 

"John  Lawrence,  who  was  present  in  the  card -party, 
stated  to  his  daughter-in-law,  who  also  was  daughter-in-law 
to  Mrs.  Philip  Embury,  that  when  Mrs.  Heck  came  into  the 
room  where  the  card-players  were  she  lifted  a  comer  of  her 
apron,  swept  the  cards  from  the  table  into  it  with  her  hand, 
went  to  the  fire,  and  cast  them  from  her  apron  into  the 
flames.  Immediately  after  this  she  put  on  her  bonnet  and 
went  to  Philip  Embury  and  said  to  him  :  '  Philip,  you  must 


I 


I 


preach  to  us,  or  we  shall  all  go  to  hell  together,  and  God  will 
require  our  blood  at  your  hands ! ' 

"  *  Where  shall  I  preach  ?  ' 

"  *  Preach  in  your  own  house.' 

*' '  Who  will  come  to  hear  me  ?  ' 

"  '  I  will  come  and  hear  you.'  As  a  result  of  this  appeal 
he  began  to  preach  in  his  own  house.  The  first  congregation 
consisted  of  five  hearers  and  the  preacher.  The  persons  who 
composed  it  were  Philip  Embury  and  his  wife,  Paul  and  Bar- 
bara Heck,  John  Lawrence,  and  Betty,  a  colored  servant  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Heck." 

Such  was  the  small  and  feeble  beginning  of  the  movement 
which,  from  that  little  gathering  of  "  poor  people  "  in  a  me- 
chanic's humble  home,  has  swept  with  varying  but  victorious 
acceleration  over  the  continent  and  across  the  seas  ;  tilling  a 
hemisphere  with  its  sanctuaries  and  its  shoutings,  and  kind- 
ling the  radiance  of  redemption  in  many  heathen  lands.  A 
young  maiden  pressed  a  key  and  the  rocks  of  Hell  Gate,  in 
the  East  River,  burst  into  fragments.  An  obscure  Methodist 
Irishwoman,  whose  heart  was  moved  by  the  moral  perils  of 
her  friends  and  countrymen,  by  her  brave  and  decisive  action 
touched  a  spring  which  let  loose  in  America  the  sui-wrecking 
forces  of  the  AVesleyan  revival  and  shook  "  the  trembling 
gates  of  Hell."  That  woman  was  Barbara  Heck,  and  she  has 
been  appropriately  called  "  the  Mother  of  American  Method- 
ism." Impelled  by  the  spirit  within  her  to  dare  and  to  do 
for  God,  her  timely,  heroic,  and  wonderfully  fruitful  service 
has  made  her  name  illustrious  ;  and  to  her  is  fulfilled  that 
Scripture  which  declares,  "They  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as 
the  brightness  of  the  firmament,  and  they  that  turn  many  to 
righteousness  as  the  stars  forever  and  ever." 

For  about  four  years  after  Embury  began  to  preach  Mrs. 
Heck  continued  with  the  New  York  Wesleyans.  She  was  a 
conspicuous  and  effective  agent  in  erecting  the  first  Meth- 
odist chapel  in  America.  There  is  a  tradition,  which  is  not 
incredible,  that  she  collected  money  for  the  building  fund. 
In  the  list  of  contributors  to  that  fund  the  name  of  her  hus- 


54 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


PAUL   HECK    IN   THE  AllMY 


55 


band — Paul  Heck — is  prefixed  to  a  subscription  of  three 
pounds  five  shillings.  In  the  entire  list,  comprising  not  far 
from  two  hundred  and  fifty  names,  there  are  only  sixteen  that 
stand  for  a  larger  sum.  Carroll,  in  his  work  on  Canadian 
Methodism,  namely,  "  Case  and  his  Cotemporaries,"  says  that 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Heck  "  were  among  the  most  active  promoters 
of  the  enterprise  of  erecting  the  first  '  preaching-house '  in 
New  York."  He  adds  :  "  Mr.  Heck  was  one  of  the  original 
trustees  and  Mrs.  Heck  whitewashed  it  with  her  own  hands." 

George  Heck  told  me  that  his  gi'andparents,  Paul  and 
Barbara  Heck,  went  from  New  York  City  to  Camden — or,  as 
it  is  sometimes  said,  Salem,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Ash- 
grove — New  York,  iu  the  year  1770,  in  company  witli  the 
immortal  Phili23  Embury.*  Mr.  Heck's  statement  is  cor- 
roborated by  a  Canadian  authority,  the  Eev.  John  Carroll, 
who,  in  his  work  on  "  Case  and  his  Cotemporaries  "  (vol.  i., 
p.  17),  says  that  "  Ashgrove,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State 
[of  New  York],  near  Lake  Cham  plain,  had  been  colonized 
largely  in  1770  by  some  emigrants  from  the  original  New 
York  society,  the  Hecks  and  Emburys."  Another  fact  which 
corroborates  this  tradition  of  their  removal  in  the  above  year 
is,  that  the  name  of  Paul  Heck,  which  occurs  several  times 
in  the  volume  of  primitive  records  of  Methodism  in  New 
York  City,  commonly  known  as  "  the  old  Book,"  appears 
in  it  for  the  last  time  in  February,  1770.  That  volume,  which 
was  the  basis  of  the  Eev.  J.  B.  Wakeley's  *'  Lost  Chapters 
Eecovered  from  the  Early  History  of  American  Method- 
ism," is  now,  1892,  in  the  possession  of  the  venerable  Dr. 
Joseph  Longking,  of  New  York,  in  a  state  of  excellent  pres- 
ervation. Dr.  LoDgkiug  signified  to  me  his  purpose  to  pre- 
sent it  to  the  Methodist  Historical  Society  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  which,  as  I  am  informed,  he  has  since  done. 

That  the  Hecks  removed  from  New  York  to  Camden  in 
the  first  half  of  the  year  1770  is  a  fact  well  established.  I 
learn  from  George  Heck  that  his  father,  Samuel — the  young- 
est son  of  Paul  and  Barbara  Heck — v/as  born  at  Camden  in 

*  Ashgrove,  Salem.  Camden,  are  all  neighborhoods  in  Camden  Valley,  New  York. 
Either  is  used  to  designate  Embury's  home. 


» 


1771,  and  that  their  youngest  child,  Nancy,  was  also  bom 
there  in  1773. 

There  the  Hecks  assisted  in  founding  the  Wesleyan  cause. 
The  first  Methodist  Society  north  of  the  city  of  New  York 
was  formed  by  Philip  Embury,  at  Ashgrove,  probably  very 
soon  after  he  and  his  friends  settled  at  Camden  in  1770. 
Bishop  Asbury,  in  his  Journal,  August  22,  1795  (vol.  ii.,  p. 
275),  speaks  of  Ashgrove,  "  where,"  he  says,  "we  have  a  so- 
ciety of  about  sixty  members.  They  originated  with  P.  Em- 
bury, who  left  the  city  of  New  York  when  the  British  preach- 
ers came  there."  A  church  was  built  for  this  society,  as 
the  Eev.  Dr.  Bostwick  Hawley  informs  us,  in  1788.  AYhen, 
in  July,  1789,  Freeborn  Garrettson  visited  Ashgi'ove  and 
preached,  he  found  there  "  many  kind  friends  wlio,"  he  says, 
"  have  built  us  a  church."  ^ 

Shortly  before  the  outbreak  of  the  American  Eevolution 
Paul  and  Barbara  Heck  removed  from  Camden  to  Montreal. 
There  is  an  erroneous  tradition  of  their  removal  to  Canada 
being  due  to  Paul  Heck's  capture  and  escape  as  a  soldier  of 
the  British  army.  This  story  Bishop  Merrill,  of  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church,  received  from  Mrs.  Heck's  grandson, 
John  Heck,  an  elder  brother  of  George  Heck.  Paul  Heck 
was  indeed  captured,  and  he  escaped,  but  did  not  therefore 
remove  to  Canada,  as  he  lived  there  when  he  joined  the  army. 

The  Kev.  Dr.  A.  W.  Cummings  was  an  inmate  of  the 
family  of  Barbara  Heck's  son  Samuel,  in  the  summers  of 
1824  and  1825,  at  Mrs.  Heck's  last  homestead,  and  ho  says : 
*'  In  1771  Paul  and  Barbara  Heck,  with  their  ^yq  chil- 
dren, Elizabeth,  John,  and  Jacob,  born  in  New^  York  in  the 
years  1765,  1707,  and  1769,  and  Samuel  and  Nancy,  born  in 
Camden  Valley  in  1771  and  1773,  left  their  second  American 
home  and  located  in  Montreal.  The  only  incidents  worthy 
of  note  during  their  fourteen  years'  residence  in  Montreal 
were  the  marriage  of  Miss  Elizabeth  to  Mr.  Owen  Bower,  the 
early  death  of  Miss  Nancy,  the  other  daughter,  and  the  en- 
listment of  Paul  Heck  in  a  volunteer  corps  in  the  British 
army." 

*  The  Experience  and  Travels  of  Freeborn  Garrettson,  p.  233. 


^^_ 


56 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN  AMEKICA 


THE  GREAT  HAUVEST 


57 


Dr.  Cuminings  says  George  Heck  "never  left  home, 
was  the  executor  of  his  father,  has  held  all  his  papers  and 
those  of  his  grandfather,  Paul  Heck,  also."  George  Heck, 
on  May  24,  1884,  wrote  :  "  My  grandfather,  Paul  Heck,  did 
join  a  volunteer  corps  for  one  year.  His  discharge  is  now 
before  me.  It  bears  date,  Quebec,  August  24,  1778,  signed 
by  Robert  Leake,  General  Haldimand,  Commander-in-chief." 
George  Heck  confirms  the  account  of  the  capture  of  his 
grandfather,  as  given  upon  his  elder  brother  John's  author- 
ity by  Bishop  Merrill,  but  he  says  it  did  not  occur  while  Paul 
Heck  was  visiting  at  home.  George  also  says  :  "  M}'  grand- 
father volunteered  in  Canada  and  after  his  escape  returned  to 
his  home."  His  residence  was  then  in  the  city  of  Montreal. 
Paul  Heck,  like  Mr.  Wesley,  was  loyal  to  the  British  crown. 

In  1785,  according  to  Carroll,  in  "  Case  and  his  Cotempo- 
raries,"  though  Dr.  Cummings  says  it  was  in  1788,  Paul  and 
Barbara  Heck  left  Montreal,  with  their  two  sons,  John  and 
Samuel,  and  settled  in  the  township  of  Augusta,  Upper  Can- 
ada, now  the  province  of  Ontario.  As  a  reward  of  Paul 
Heck's  loyalty  to  George  III.,  he  and  all  his  childi'en  then 
living  drew  two  hundred  acres  of  land  each,  in  Augusta. 
Some  of  the  patents  for  these  lands  are  yet  in  George 
Heck's  possession.  Lot  No.  14,  near  Big  Creek,  in  Augusta 
township,  was,  according  to  Dr.  Cummings,  drawn  by  Samuel 
Heck.  It  was  decided  that  he  should  remain  upon  it  with, 
and  care  for,  his  father  and  mother,  Paul  and  Barbara.  Car- 
roll, however,  states  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Heck  settled  on  "  Lot 
No.  4,  third  concession,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Big  Creek." 
Here  they  lived  the  remainder  of  Paul  Heck's  days. 

A  Methodist  class  was  now  formed  in  Augusta,  of  which 
Paul  and  Barbara  Heck,  John  Lawrence,  and  his  wife  Mar- 
garet, formerly  Mrs.  Philip  Embury,  *'  and  others  who  were 
<^f  the  first  class  formed  in  America  by  Embury  were  mem- 
bers." Thus,  without  a  preacher,  these  same  people  or- 
ganized Methodism  in  Upper  Canada,  now  Ontario.  This 
class  was  under  the  leadership  of  Samuel  Embury,  son  of 
Philip,  and,  it  is  believed,  was  the  first  society  of  Methodists 
formed  in  Canada. 


i 


1 


On  the  farm  of  his  son  Samuel,  Paul  Heck  died,  not  in 
1792,  as  Dr.  Cummings  asserts,  and  as  is  also  recorded  on  his 
tomb,  but  at  a  date  somewhat  later.  The  exact  date  of  his 
decease,  however,  is  not  determined,  but  probably  it  was  in 
1795.  It  is  certain  he  did  not  die  before  1794  nor  later 
than  1795.  A  copy  of  his  will,  legally  attested,  which  I  have 
seen,  shows  that  the  instrument  was  executed  February  22, 
1794,  and  was  admitted  to  probate  April  2,  1795.  Some  time 
between  those  two  dates  the  venerable  testator  died,  probably 
in  March  of  the  latter  year. 

Soon  after  Paul  Heck's  decease,  his  son  Samuel,  as  Dr. 
Cummings  informs  us,  "sold  the  farm  on  Big  Creek  and  pur- 
chased a  tract  of  six  hundred  acres,  almost  directly  in  front, 
on  the  St.  Lawrence  Biver.  He  here  built  a  comfortable 
residence,  to  which,  with  his  mother,  he  removed  in  1799. 
Here  Mrs.  Barbara  Heck  spent  the  remainder  of  her  life,  en- 
joying the  confidence  and  love  of  all  her  kindred  and  of  the 
numerous  friends  who  recognized  her  as  the  '  foundress,'  as 
Dr.  Abel  Stevens  most  appropriately  denominates  her,  of 
American  Methodism."  * 

The  great  Methodist  harvest  in  America  sprung  from 
wind-wafted  seed  from  Ireland.  According  to  the  eleventh 
census — 1890 — there  are  in  the  territory  of  the  American 
Union  over  fortv-six  thousand  Methodist  churches,  valued  at 
above  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  millions  of  dollars,  exclu- 
sive of  parsonages,  with  considerably  over  four  and  a  half 
millions  of  communicants.  Besides  there  are  vast  multi- 
tudes of  adherents  who  are  not  members.  The  census  of 
1890  also  shows  that  the  Methodist  membership  comprises 
over  one-third  of  the  total  number  of  Protestant  communi- 
cants in  the  United  States.  Almost  a  third  of  all  the  church 
edifices  of  the  country,  including  the  Eoman  Catholic,  are 
Methodist,  and  of  the  Protestant  Church  buildings  the  Metho- 
dists have  eight  thousand  in  excess  of  a  third  of  the  whol(\ 
Such  is  the  mighty  result,  though  only  in  part,  of  the  spiritual 

*  For  important  facts  in  Mrs.  Heck's  history  after  her  removal  from  the  city 
of  New  York  in  1770,  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  Cnramings's  interesting  article  in  the 
New  York  Christian  Advocate,  January  S^  1885. 


68 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


impulse   imparted  by   Barbara  Heck  to  Philip  Embury  in 

1766. 

In  a  humble  hamlet  in  Ireland,  amidst  the  holy  and  in- 
spiring influences  kindled  by  Wesley  and  his  preachers,  Bar- 
bara Heck  received  the  preparation  for  the  epoch-creating 
work  which  she  was  destined  to  accomplish  in  America. 
Her  loyalty  to  Christ  and  her  zeal  for  righteousness  led  her 
tu  impel  into  liiuiion  the  religious  forces  which  have  proved 
so  potent  in  this  land  and  have  produced  results  of  such 
amazing  glory  and  grandeur.  The  feebleness  of  the  instru- 
ment and  the  smallness  of  the  beginning,  when  contrasted 
witli  the  vast  magnitude  of  the  achievement  as  seen  in  its 
results,  are  sufficient  evidence  that  she  was  directed  by  divine 
wisdom  and  that  the  work  which  she  began  was  of  God. 

Mrs.  Heck's  movement  developed  in  less  than  two  dec- 
ades into  the  ecclesiastical  organization  called  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church,  in  which  Church  her  last  years  were 
worthily  spent.  From  its  communion  she  suddenly  ascended 
to  "  the  Saint's  Everlasting  Kest." 

"  The  old  Heck  house,"  says  the  Eev.  Dr.  W.  H.  Withrow, 
"  near  Maitland,  is  a  large  stone  structure,  built  in  the  quaint 
Norman  style  common  to  French  Canada,  with  massive  walls 
three  feet  thick.  At  the  back  is  the  old  orchard  where  Bar- 
bara Heck  died,  sitting  in  her  chair  beneath  an  apple-tree, 
with  her  German  Bible  on  her  knees.  In  full  view  sweeps 
the  noble  St.  Lawrence,  and  on  the  opposite  side  is  the 
American  shore.  It  seems  as  if  in  death  as  in  life  she  be- 
longs to  both  countries,  in  which,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
she  was  the  means  of  planting  Methodism.  Our  Canadian 
Barbara  Heck,  the  friend  of  Philip  Embury,  who  collected 
money  for  old  John  Street  Church,  New  York,  and  white- 
washed it  with  her  own  hands."  - 

*  New  York  Christian  Advocate,  February  25,  1886. 


CHAPTEE  V. 

THE  NEW  YOKE  HEROINE'S   IDENTITY,  CHARACTER,  AND  DEATH. 

It  was  known  to  the  original  Methodist  society  in  New 
York  that  Barbara  Heck  incited  Philip  Embury  to  preach 
there  in  1766.  Some  time  afterward  a  certain  Paul  Hick 
became  a  member  of  the  society,  and  the  story  of  Mrs. 
Heck's  work  was  changed  by  the  substitution  therein  of  Paul 
Hick's  mother  for  Paul  Heck's  wife.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  only  five  persons  heard  Embury's  first  sermon  in  his 
"  hired  house."  They  all  removed  from  New  York,  with  the 
possible  exception  of  Betty,  the  colored  servant,  whose  his- 
tory I  have  not  traced.  In  their  absence  the  change  in  the 
tradition  occurred. 

This  change  resulted  in  a  controversy  respecting  the  iden- 
tity of  the  woman  who  roused  Embury  to  evangelical  action. 
The  debate  began  in  1858  in  this  way :  The  Kev.  J.  B. 
Wakeley  published  in  that  year  his  book  known  as  "  Lost 
Chapters,"  in  writing  which  he  met  the  Heck-Embury  tra- 
dition and  attempted  to  set  it  forth.  He  understood  that 
the  heroine  of  the  unique  story  was  the  mother  of  Paul 
Hick,  and  as  a  letter  from  his  hand  now  in  my  posses- 
sion shows,  he  had  never  heard  that  Paul  Heck  and  his 
wife  Barbara  had  ever  been  connected  with  the  society  in 
New  York.  He  therefore  fell  into  error  concerning  the  initial 
act  in  the  great  Methodist  drama  in  America.  His  asser- 
tions were  challenged  from  Canada  in  the  New  York  Chris- 
tian Advocate.  He  replied  and  rejoinders  followed.  The 
result  was  the  dispersion  of  the  mist  which  had  obs(mred  the 
name  and  the  personality  of  Barbara  Heck,  and  the  bringing 
into  view  the  woman  who  projected  the  Wesleyan  cause  in 
this  country. 


60 


THE    WESLEY  AN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


IIECK    AND   HICK 


61 


The  first  time,  apparently,  that  the  Heck-Embury  tradi- 
tion appeared  in  print  was  in  1818,  in  the  sermon  Nathan 
Bangs  preached  at  the  dedication  of  the  second  John  Street 
Church  in  New  York.  In  1823  the  story  was  published 
anonymously  in  the  Methodist  Magazine  as  a  part  of  a 
series  of  articles  on  "  The  Introduction  of  Methodism  into 
the  United  States."  Dr.  Stevens,  in  his  "  History  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  erroneously  ascribes  those 
articles  to  the  Eev.  P.  P.  Sandford.  Dr.  Bangs,  in  the 
Christian  Advocate  of  April  15,  1858,  said  of  the  articles : 
"  I  wrote  them  myself  and  published  them  in  the  Methodist 
3Ia(jazine,  in  1823,  while  I  was  editor  of  that  work."  The 
substance  of  the  Heck  tradition  was  incorporated  by  Bangs 
into  the  first  volume  of  his  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Chui*ch."  In  the  New  York  Christian  Advocate  of  Oc- 
tober 28,  1858,  Dr.  Bangs  revealed  the  sources  whence  he 
derived  this  tradition.  ''I  have  to  say,"  he  says,  "that  I 
did  receive  the  account  in  Canada  from  Samuel  Heck  of 
Augusta,  Upper  Canada,  and  thought  at  the  time  it  was  cor- 
rect. But  on  coming  to  New  York  in  1810  I  became  ac- 
quainted with  Paul  Hick  and  his  family  and  received  the 
account  from  him  and  his  wife.  When  in  1817  the  second 
John  Street  Church  was  to  be  dedicated,  and  I  was  requested 
to  preach  the  dedication  sermon,  I  went  to  Paul  Hick  and 
took  down  the  account  from  him,  assisted  by  his  pious  and 
intelligent  wife,  and  then  took  my  notes  home,  wrote  them 
out  in  full,  and  returned  and  read  them  to  Paul  Hick  and  his 
wife.  Tliey  pronounced  them  all  correct.  These  were  read 
at  the  time  I  preached  the  dedication  sermon  in  John  Street, 
and  soon  after  they  were  published." 

Some  years  after  Dr.  Bangs  published  the  Heck-Embury 
tradition,  in  his  John  Street  dedication  sermon,  and  also  in 
the  Methodist  Magazine,  and  several  years  before  he  pub- 
lished it  in  his  "History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church," 
he  issued  "  The  Life  of  the  Kev.  Freeborn  Garrettson." 
In  the  Introduction  to  that  work  he  says  :  "  By  the  earnest 
entreaties  of  Mrs.  Paul  Hick,  a  pious  matron,  Mr.  Embury 
very  reluctantly  commenced  preaching."     This  is  a  correct 


I 


I 


statement  of  Mrs.  Heck's  relation  to  the  beginning  of  Em- 
bury's gospel  labors  in  New  York,  but  there  is  a  slight  error 
in  the  spelling  of  her  family  name.  Dr.  Bangs  says  that  the 
woman  who  went  to  Embury  with  "  earnest  entreaties,"  was 
Mrs.  Paul  H/ck,  whereas  she  was  in  reality  Mrs.  Paul  Heck. 
If  the  letter  e  were  substituted  for  the  letter  i  m  the  name, 
the  statement  would  be  perfectly  accurate.  Bangs  possibly 
overlooked  the  slight  difference  in  the  orthography  of  the 
names. 

It  is  not  known  that  there  was  a  Mrs.  Paul  Hick  in  New 
York  when  Embury  was  a  resident  of  that  city,  nor  is 
such  a  supposition  at  all  w^arranted.  The  woman  who  it 
is  said  Paul  Hick  declared  was  instrumental  in  beginning 
the  Wesleyan  movement  there  was  his  mother,  not  his  wife. 
There  was  a  Conference  in  New  York,  in  1859,  between  John 
and  George  Heck,  grandsons  of  Barbara,  the  Rev.  John  Car- 
roll, of  Canada,  and  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Wakeley — Dr.  Abel  Ste- 
vens and  Bishop  Janes  being  also  present — at  which  Dr. 
Wakeley  said  in  writing  that  Mrs.  Hick's  "  Christian  and 
maiden  names  are  not  certainly  known."  I  have  seen  an 
autograph  letter  of  a  grandson  of  Paul  H/ck,  in  which  he 
Hkewise  says  that  neither  the  Christian  nor  the  maiden  name 
of  Paul  Hick's  mother  are  retained.  None  of  the  Irish  au- 
thorities appear  to  have  discovered  anything  of  much  moment 
about  either  Mrs.  Hick  or  her  husband.  Her  identity,  in- 
deed, seems  almost  lost  in  the  obscurity  which  surrounds  her. 

Now,  in  saying,  in  his  biography  of  Garrettson,  that 
"  Mrs.  Paul  Hick  "  gave  to  Philip  Embury  his  impulse  to 
preach.  Dr.  Bangs  seems  to  have  adhered  to  the  Canadian 
version  of  the  tradition.  Neither  in  his  printed  John  Street 
dedication  sermon,  nor  in  the  Methodist  Ma^jazine,  nor  yet  in 
his  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  does  he 
give  the  name  of  the  woman  who  dispersed  the  card-party, 
and  then  effectually  besought  Embury  to  preach.  It  was  in 
the  interval  between  the  publication  of  the  first  two  and  the 
last  one  of  those  writings  that  Bangs  announced  the  w^oman's 
name  in  his  work  on  Garrettson.  It  would  seem  that  in  the 
sermon  in  1818,  in  the  Magazine  in  1823,  and  in  the  History 


62 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


in  1839,  he  did  not  adopt  either  the  Canadian  or  the  New 
York  version  of  the  tradition  concerning  the  person  who  led 
Embury  to  the  pulpit ;  while  in  1829  he  was  so  far  favorable 
to  the  Canada  version  that  he  wrote  the  woman's  name  as 
Mrs.  Paul  Hick,  which,  except  a  single  letter  in  the  spell- 
ing, was  accurate. 

Justice  requires  that,  in  so  far  as  he  is  known  to  have 
spoken  fur  himself  m  relation  to  this  matter,  Dr.  Bangs 
should  be  heard  in  his  own  language.  He  says  :  "  I  had 
reason  to  believe  from  the  established  character  of  Paul 
Hick,  as  a  member  of  the  Church,  a  trustee,  and  a  class 
leader,  that  he  told  me  the  truth  ;  and  therefore  I  concluded 
that  Samuel  Heck  of  Canada  was  under  an  innocent  mistake, 
for  he  no  doubt  thought  he  had  told  me  the  truth.  That  one 
or  the  other  of  them  was  mistaken  is  certain,  and  I  am  in- 
clined tu  believe  that  Paul  Hick  of  New  York,  who  professed 
to  hioiv  the  facts  he  gave  to  me,  which  were  corroborated  by 
his  wife,  was  coiTCct  in  his  statements.  These  formed  the 
basis  of  the  account  which  I  published  in  the  Magazine,  in 
1823,  and  in  my  History,  in  1839."  * 

But,  prior  to  his  narration  of  the  story  in  either  of  those 
pul)lications.  Bangs  gave  it  publicity,  as  I  have  shown,  in  his 
John  Street  dedicatory  sermon,  in  1818.  Thus  we  have  four 
several  accounts  by  him  of  the  origin  of  Methodism  in  New 
York  in  an  equal  number  of  publications,  issued  respectively 
in  1818,  1823,  1829,  and  1839.  In  the  Introduction  to  the 
"  Life  of  Garrettson,"  in  1829,  Bangs  says  :  "  To  ascertain 
the  truth  the  writer  took  much  pains  some  years  since,  by 
conversing  with  several  of  the  aged  members  of  the  [New 
Y'^ork]  society,  all  of  whom  have  since  been  called  to  their  re- 
ward in  heaven,  who  distinctly  remembered  the  first  rise  of 
the  society,  and  took  a  grateful  delight  in  rehearsing  the  cir- 
cumstances attending  its  formation  and  progi-ess."  In  the 
sermon  as  published,  which  he  preached  on  the  occasion  of 
the  John  Street  dedication,  January  4,  1818,  his  statement 
concerning  Mrs.  Heck  is  contrary  to  that  which  he  inserted 
in  his  History,  over  a  score  of  years  later.    I  will  now  exhibit, 

*Dr.  Bangs's  letter  in  New  York  Christian  Advocate,  October  28,  1858. 


BANGS  VERSUS  BANGS 


63 


in  parallel  columns.  Dr.  Bangs's  remarks  as  they  related  to 
Mrs.  Heck,  in  the  dedication  sermon  in  1818,  and  his  con- 
trary statement  about  the  mother  of  Paul  Hick,  in  his  His- 
tory, in  1839.  Neither  in  the  Sermon  nor  the  History  does 
he  name  the  heroine  of  his  story  in  the  text,  but  he  identifies 
her  in  each  work  in  a  note  in  the  margin,  which  foot-notes  I 
shall  now  reproduce  in  connection  with  the  text. 


Bangs  in  the  John  Steeet  Ded- 

ICATOKY     SeKMON,    IN     1818,     RE- 
SPECTING Mrs.  Heck. 

Persevering  in  their  conscien- 
tious efforts  to  promote  the  pres- 
ent and  future  welfare  of  their 
fellowmen,  this  place  [the  rigging 
loftj  also  became  insufficient  to 
contain  the  people  who  assembled 
with  them.  They  therefore  began 
to  think  seriously  of  erecting  a 
house  of  worship.  In  this  pious 
design,  however,  they  seemed  to 
meet  with  insuperable  difficulties. 
Most  of  the  society  being  poor, 
they  had  not  the  requisite  means 
for  such  an  undertaking.  "While 
all  were  deliberating  upon  the 
proper  course  to  be  pursued  to 
accomplish  their  design,  an  elder- 
ly ladv,  one  of  the  emigrants,  and 
a  worthy  member  of  the  society, 
while  earnestly  engaged  in  prayer 
to  God  for  aid  and  direction,  re- 
ceived with  inexpressible  sweet- 
ness this  answer  :  "I,  the  Lord, 
will  do  it."  At  the  same  time  a 
plan  of  operation  presenting  itself 
to  her  mind,  she  encouraged  them 
to  proceed.^ 

Bangs's  foot-note  to  the  above  is  as  fol- 
lows : 
*  This    worthy    disciple     of    Christ, 
whose  well-directed  zeal  contributed  so 
much  toward  the  prosperity  of  this  so- 


Bangs  in  the  "History  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church," 

IN    1839,   RESPECTING   MrS.   HiCK. 

In  consequence  of  the  accession 
of  members  to  the  society  and 
hearers  of  the  word,  the  rigging 
loft  also  became  too  small,  and 
hence  they  began  to  consult  to- 
gether on  the  propriety  of  build- 
ing a  house  of  worship.  But  for 
the  accomplishment  of  this  under- 
taking manv  difficulties  were  to  be 
encountered.  The  members  of  the 
society  were  yet  few  in  number, 
and  most  of  them  of  the  i)oorer 
class,  and  of  course  had  but  a 
limited  acquaintance  and  influ- 
ence in  the  community.  For 
some  time  a  painful  suspense 
kept  them  undetermined  which 
way  to  act.  But  while  all  were 
deliberating  on  the  most  suitable 
means  to  be  adopted  to  accom- 
plish an  end  so  desirable  and  even 
necessary  to  their  continued  pros- 
perity, an  elderly  lady,"^  one  of 
the  Irish  emigrants  before  men- 
tioned, while  fervently  engaged  in 
prayer  for  direction  in  this  impor- 
tant enterprise,  received  with  in- 
expressible sweetness  and  power 
this  answer,  ' '  I,  the  Lord,  will  do 
it."  At  the  same  time  a  plan  was 
presented  to  her  mind,  which,  on 
being    presented  to  the  society, 


64 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


HECK    AND   HICK    AGAIN 


65 


ciety,  removed  from  this  city  to  Ash- 
grove,  and  from  thence  to  Upper  Can- 
ada, where  she  ended  her  mortal  life  in 
the  triumph  of  faith.  It  seems  she  had 
frequently  prayed  for  a  sudden  death. 
Sitting  with  her  spectacles  on,  the  Bible 
and  Hymn -Book  on  her  lap,  and  raising 
her  hands  toward  heaven,  she  shouted, 
"  Glorij  to  God;'  and  fell  dead.  The 
author,  while  travelling  in  Upper  Can- 
ada, preached  in  the  house  where  this 
eminent  saint  thus  ended  her  pilgrim- 
age, and  received  from  her  son,  who  was 
a  wortliy  member  of  our  Church,  the 
above  account  of  his  mother. 


was  generally  approved    of,   and 
finally  adopted. 

Bangs' s  foot-note  to  the  above  is  as  fol- 
lows : 
*  The  name  of  this  pious  woman  was 
Hick,  the  mother  of  the  late  Paul  Hick, 
wlio  became  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  his  youth,  and  was 
subsequently  a  class  leader  and  trustee, 
in  which  offices  he  continued  until  near 
the  close  of  his  life,  and  finally  died  in 
the  triumphs  of  faith  in  the  seventy- 
fourth  year  of  his  age.     He  has  children 
and  grandchildren,  now  members  of  the 
Church  in  the  city  of  New  York.     He 
has  often  conversed  with  the  writer  re- 
specting the  circumstances  and  incidents 
of  those  early  days  of  Methodism,  with 
much  apparent  delight  and  gratitude. 
When  quite  a  lad  his  mother  used  to 
lead  him  by  the  hand  to  the  meetings ; 
and,  said  he,  "  The  first  sixpence  I  could 
ever  call  my  own  I  put  into  the  plate 
which  was  carried  around  to  receive  the 
contributions  of  the  people,  and  I  felt 
in  so  doing  an  inexpressible  pleasure." 
God  abundantly  rewarded  him  in  after 
life,    with  both  temporal  and   spiritual 
blessings,  and  he  lived  to  see  this  ''  seed 
of  the  Kingdom  spring  up  and  bear  fruit 
even  a  hundredfold."      Several  of  the 
facts  above  narrated  were  received  by 
the   writer   from   Mr.    Hick  and   other 
members  of  his  family. 

It  is  remarkable  that  Dr.  Bangs  should  have  declared, 
in  his  John  Street  dedicatory  sermon,  that  the  woman  who 
was  the  inspiring  agent  in  the  erection  of  the  first  Methodist 
Church  in  New  York  was  she  who  removed  to  Ashgrove,  and 
thence  to  Canada,  where  she  suddenly  died  in  her  chair — 
which  woman  was  none  other  than  Barbara,  wife  of  Paul 
Heck — and  that  then,  more  than  twenty  years  later,  he  should 
have  said  in  his  History  that  the  woman  in  question  was 
the  mother  of  Paul  H/ck. 

At  the  time  Bangs  published  his  sermon,  Paul  Hick  and 
Hannili  Dean,  his  wife,  were  living,  and  he  declares  he 
wrote  this  story,  as  he  obtained  it  from  them,  and  that  it  was 


I 


read  at  the  dedication,  he  having  previously  read  it  to  them 
and  received  their  confirmation  of  its  accuracy.  When  in  his 
History,  above  twenty  years  afterward,  he  said  that  this  not- 
able woman  was  the  mother  of  Paul  Hick,  the  said  Paul 
Hick  had  been  fourteen  years  dead.  Thus,  when  he  had  re- 
ceived the  account  fresh  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hick's  Hps,  and 
when  both  were  yet  living  in  New  York,  he  there  published, 
in  the  sermon  foot-note,  that  the  woman  of  whom  he 
spoke  in  the  text  was  Barbara  Heck,  of  Canada,  and  then, 
when  they  had  long  been  dead,  he,  above  a  score  of  years 
later,  said  she  was  Paul  Hick's  mother.  Between  the  dates 
of  these  two  publications,  namely,  in  1829,  Bangs  pub- 
lished his  "  Life  of  Garrettson,"  in  the  Introduction  to  which 
he  declared  that  the  woman  who  induced  Embury  to  preach 
in  New  York  was  "  Mrs.  Paul  H/ck." 

The  change  in  this  tradition  was  effected  in  New  York  at 
a  comparatively  early  period,  probably  within  two  or  three 
decades  after  Mrs.  Heck's  removal  from  the  city.  W«  find 
it  in  its  changed  form  in  the  following  passage  from  an  early 
historical  document,  namely,  Peter  Parks's  "  Statement  of  the 
Rise  of  Methodism  in  America  : "  "  Sister  Hick,  mother  of 
Paul  Hick,  who  resided  opposite  the  barracks,  persuaded  Mr. 
Emmery  [Embury]  to  have  preaching  in  his  house,  and  he 
accordingly  called  the  neighbors  together  for  preaching." 

Dr.  Bangs  put  the  case  respecting  the  tradition  as  related 
to  him  by  both  Samuel  Heck  and  Paul  Hzck,  thus  :  "  That 
one  or  the  other  was  mistaken  is  certain."  Let  us  now  see 
if  we  can  ascertain  on  wdiich  side  the  mistake  lay. 

First.  The  fact  that  so  little  is  known  concerning  the 
mother  of  Paul  Hick  indicates  that  she  died  when  Paul  was 
young.  Had  she  lived  until  he  grew  out  of  childhood  it  is 
improbable  that  he  would  have  failed  to  embalm  her  name  in 
the  records  of  his  family.  He  is  said  to  have  claimed  that 
his  mother  was  also  "  the  mother  of  American  Methodism." 
His  children  and  later  descendants  would  have  proudly  cher- 
ished her  name  as  that  of,  in  their  belief,  the  foremost  Meth- 
odist heroine  of  this  continent,  had  he  made  it  knoA\Ti  to 
them  orally  or  in  writing.     Paul  Hick  lived  until  1825,  and 


4 


66 


THE  WESLEYAN  MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


BARBARA  HECK'S   LETTER 


67 


had  lie  known  her  name  it  surely  would  have  been  retained 
in  his  family  until  1858,  when  the  controversy  arose  concern- 
ing her  relation  to  the  origin  of  Methodism  in  America. 

Of  the  time  or  circumstances  of  the  death  of  the  mother 
of  Paul  Hick  we  know  nothing  save  the  tradition  as  given  by 
Dr.  Wakeley  in  his  "Lost  Chapters  "  as  follows  :  "  Mrs.  Hick 
died  many  years  ago  in  the  triumphs  of  our  holy  religion,  and 
was  buried  in  Trinity  Church-yard  in  New^  York.  No  stone 
or  monument  tells  where  her  precious  dust  is  sleeping."  The 
absence  of  identification  of  her  burial-place  strongly  suggests 
that  her  death  occuiTed  when  her  son  Paul  was  a  child.  Had 
he  known  where  her  body  was  consigned  to  dust  is  it  likely 
that  he  would  have  failed  to  keep  tlie  spot  in  tender  and  sacred 
memory,  or  to  visit  it  and  to  lead  his  children  to  her  grave  ? 
It  is  understood  that  he  possessed  competent  means.  Had 
he  then  known  where  was  his  mother's  sleeping-place — the 
mother  whose  supposed  heroic  and  historic  deeds  he  fondly 
narrated — would  he  have  failed  to  distinguish  it  by  some  ap- 
propriate "  monumental  stone  ?  " 

On  the  apparently  well-based  assumption  that  Paul  Hick's 
mother  died  while  he  was  yet  too  young  to  remember  her 
name,  it  may  be  supposed  that  he  did  not  hear  much  directly 
from  her  about  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  begin- 
ning of  Embury's  great  work.  I  have  not  seen  any  statement 
that  she  ever  said  she  confounded  the  card-players  and  im- 
pelled Embury  to  the  pulpit.  How^ever,  her  family  seem 
to  have  believed  her  to  have  been  the  person  who  performed 
those  works. 

Second.  In  this  belief  they  were  mistaken,  as  is  shown 
by  the  following  evidence  : 

(1)  There  lived  in  Ireland  a  maiden  named  Barbara 
Kuckle,  daughter  of  Sebastian  Euckle.  She  married  Paul 
Heck,  with  whom  she  came  to  America  in  1760.  The  Eev. 
William  Crook,  in  his  w^ork  on  "  Ireland  and  the  Centenary 
of  American  Methodism,"  has  made  these  facts  clear,  and 
placed  them  above  dispute.  On  the  other  hand,  we  get  no 
word  from  beyond  the  sea  respecting  the  ancestry,  or  even 
the  identity,  of  the  mother  of  Paul  Hick. 


(2)  Barbara  Heck  wTote  to  a  friend  in  Ireland  an  account 
of  her  work  in  originating  Methodism  in  New  York.  The 
Eev.  William  Crook,  in  the  above-mentioned  book,  says: 
"  Mrs.  Heck  sent  a  letter  from  New  York  to  a  friend  in  Bal- 
lingran  in  which  she  gave  an  account  of  the  transaction. 
This  letter  was  preserved  for  many  years,  and  old  Mrs. 
Euckle  told  me  she  had  often  read  it  and  had  it  in  her  pos- 
session for  a  long  time.  It  was  subsequently  taken  to  Amer- 
ica by  Mr.  Christopher  Euckle,  who  emigrated  some  years 
since,  and  settled,  I  think,  in  Ohio." 

It  will  not  be  irrelevant  to  indicate  here  who  this  "  old 
Mrs.  Euckle  "  was.  This  I  will  do  in  Mr.  Crook's  words : 
"  Mrs.  Heck's  house  is  still  standing  in  venerable  age.  When 
I  first  saw  it  old  Mrs.  Barbara  Euckle,  connected  by  marriage 
with  Mrs.  Heck,  lived  in  it,  and  a  grand  old  woman  she  was 
as  I  have  met  with  since.  When  I  saw  it  last  she  was  gone 
to  join  her  kindi^ed  in  the  house  above.  She  had  so  much 
individuality  of  character  that  she  stands  out  alone  before 
my  mind,  in  many  respects  unUke  any  one  else  whom  I  have 
ever  known.  She  bore  Mrs.  Heck's  honored  name,  Barbara 
Euckle,  lived  in  her  house,  and  caught  her  mantle  too.  I 
fancy  that  Mrs.  Heck  was  just  such  another  woman."  ^ 

Such  w^as  the  witness  who  told  Mr.  Crook  that  she  had 
long  held  in  her  possession,  and  often  had  read,  a  letter  from 
Barlbara  Heck,  in  which  the  latter  related  the  story  of  her 
relation  to  the  beginning  of  the  Wesleyan  movement  in  this 

land. 

Christopher  Euckle,  who,  as  Crook  states,  emigrated  from 

Ireland  and  went  to  Ohio  in  1848,  settled  at  Maumee,  near 

Toledo.    He  is  dead  ;  but  the  statement  of  "  Old  Mrs.  Euckle  '* 

that  he  took  Mrs.  Heck's  letter  to  America  is  confirmed  by 

his  daughter,  Mrs.  Sarah  Whidden.     In  a  letter  from  Mrs. 

Whidden,  in  my  possession,  of  the  date  of  January  19,  1890, 

she  says :    '^  Father  had  the  Barbara  Heck  letter.      Father 

showed  the  letter  to  several  in  Maumee  and  thought  he  lost  it 

in  some  books  that  he  lent.     The  ministers  of  the  Methodist 

Church  came  for  the  letter  after  it  was  lost.     Father  told  them 

*  Ireland  and  the  Centenary  of  American  Methodism,  by  the  Rev.  William  Crook. 


\ 


68 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


TESTIMONIES   IN    SUPPORT   OF    MRS.    IIECK'S   STORY      69 


he  could  tell  them  almost  word  for  word  of  the  letter.  Mrs. 
Heck  was  a  great-grandaunt  of  mine." 

In  a  subsequent  letter,  also  in  my  possession,  dated  Pres- 
que  Isle,  O.,  March  4, 1890,  Mrs.  Whidden  gives  the  substance 
of  that  which  Mrs.  Heck  wrote.  She  says  :  *'  As  to  that  letter 
that  father  had,  it  was  written  by  Barbara  Heck  herself. 
The  words,  as  near  as  I  know,  were — Mrs.  Heck  went  to  the 
house  and  found  her  countrymen  playing  cards.  She  took 
the  cards  out  of  their  hands  and  threw  them  into  the  fire. 
Then  she  spoke  to  Mr.  Embury  and  told  him  that  he  must 
speak  to  the  people,  and  if  he  did  not  their  souls  would  be 
required  at  his  hands.  He  spoke  to  her  and  said,  I  have 
neither  house  nor  congregation.  She  told  him  to  preach  in 
his  own  house  first  and  she  would  find  a  congregation.  So 
she  went  among  her  countrymen  and  spoke  to  them.  There 
were  but  six  at  the  first  meeting.  This  is  all  that  I  remem- 
ber about  the  letter." 

Thus  we  have  explicit  testimony  from  a  witness  of  high 
character  in  Ireland,  now  dead,  and  also  from  a  living  daugh- 
ter of  Christopher  Kuckle,  both  connected  with  the  family  of 
Mrs.  Heck,  that  Barbara  Heck  wrote  an  epistolary  document 
which  was  long  preserved,  in  which  she  related  the  thrilling 
story  of  her  inauguration  of  the  Wesleyan  reformation  in 
America. 

(3)  Barbara  Heck  also  related  the  same  story  orally. 
This  presumptively  is  shown  first  of  all  by  Dr.  Bangs, 
who  says  that  Samuel  Heck,  a  son  of  Barbara  Heck,  told 
him  that  his  mother  was  the  instrument  of  originating 
Methodism  m  New  York.  Samuel  Coate,  an  eloquent 
Methodist  preacher,  went  to  Canada  as  a  missionary  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  1796,  and  thereafter,  during 
the  continuance  of  his  ministry,  he  was  chiefly  in  that  coun- 
try. At  about  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  he  mar- 
ried Ann  Dulmage,  whose  parents  came  to  America  with  the 
Emburys  and  the  Hecks.  In  Baltimore,  where  Mr.  Coate 
was  then  preaching,  Bishop  Asbury,  in  his  Journal,  under  the 
date  of  August  7, 1802,  made  this  record,  namely :  "  The  wife 
of  our  brother,  Samuel  Coate,  had  a  daughter  born  to  her, 


I 


whom  I  baptized,  naming  her  Sophia."  As  Barbara  Heck 
lived  two  years  after  the  birth  of  this  child,  it  is  ai3parent 
that  Mrs.  Coate,  who  was  from  the  Heck  locality  in  Canada, 
had  good  knowledge  of  her.  Concerning  Barbara  Heck,  she 
gave  this  testimony  :  "  I  often  overheard  Mrs.  Heck  relate  to 
my  mother  the  circumstances  of  the  recovery  of  the  back- 
slidden, card-playing  Methodists,  and  the  arousal  of  Philip 
Embury  to  preach  through  her  instrumentality.  As  I  was 
the  wife  of  the  Bev.  Samuel  Coate  I  was  acquainted  with  the 
Rev.  Nathan  Bangs  when  he  labored  in  this  country  [Can- 
ada] and  have  reason  to  believe  that  he  knew  the  Heck  fam- 
ily well." 

Mrs.  Sarah  Dulmage,  whose  husband,  1  think,  was  a 
brother  of  Mrs.  Coate,  declared,  in  August,  1858,  over  her 
own  signature,  that  she  knew  Barbara  Heck,  and  knew  her, 
too,  as  a  woman  of  high  Christian  character,  and  had 
"  often  heard  her  relate  the  incidents"  of  the  cards  and  Em- 
bury "years  and  years  before  any  account  was  published." 
At  the  time  Mrs.  Dulmage  gave  this  testimony  she  was 
eighty  years  old,  and  therefore  she  must  have  been  twenty-six 
when  Barbara  Heck  died.  Thus  we  have  the  testimony  of 
credible  witnesses  to  the  fact  that  Mrs.  Heck  orally  said  she 
"  stirred  up  Embury  to  preach." 

(4)  The  claim  of  Mrs.  Heck  is  supported  by  witnesses  of 
the  facts.  We  have  seen  that  John  Lawrence,  who  became 
the  husband  of  Philip  Embury's  widow,  was  present  when 
Barbara  Heck  in  New  York  stopped  the  card-playing  of  her 
friends.  John  Lawrence,  son  of  the  above  John  Lawrence 
and  of  the  former  Mrs.  Embury,  in  a  letter  which  the 
Rev.  G.  G.  Saxe,  now  of  Madison,  N.  J.,  had  in  his  pos- 
session, and  a  portion  of  which  he  published  in  the  New 
York  Christian  Advocate  in  1858,  bore  testimony  to  Barbara 
Heck's  agency  in  arousing  Philip  Embury  to  evangelistic 
activity.  In  that  letter  John  Lawrence  says :  "  My  father 
was  present  when  Barbara  Heck,  wife  of  Paul  Heck,  who 
both  emigrated  to  Canada,  threw  the  cards  into  the  fire  and 
said,  'Philip,  you  must  preach  to  us.'  " 

In  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  John  Carroll  this  same  John  Law- 


70 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


I 


THE   NAME   BARBARA 


71 


rence  says  :  "  I  have  heard  my  father,  who  was  husband  to 
the  late  Philip  Embury's  wife,  say  it  was  Barbara  Heck, 
who  emigrated  to  Canada,  that  threw  the  cards  into  the  fire 
and  exhorted  Philip  Embury  to  go  and  preach  or  they  would 
all  be  lost.  Mrs.  Lawrence  confirms  the  above  statement  by 
what  she  heard  from  her  mother,  who  was  a  sister  of  Paul 
Heck,  the  husband  of  Barbara.  Edward  Dulmage,  whose 
mother  also  was  a  child  of  Mrs.  Embury,  has  heard  his  par- 
ents relate  the  same  circumstances."  These  testimonies,  ex- 
cept the  Saxe  letter,  were  published  by  the  Eev.  John  Carroll 
in  the  New  York  Christian  Advocate  of  September  30  and 
October  7,  1858. 

Thus,  as  we  see,  there  is  decisive  proof  that  with  both 
pen  and  voice  Mrs.  Heck  declared  she  dispersed  a  group 
of  card-players,  flung  the  cards  into  the  flames,  and  then  im- 
plored Philip  Embury  to  preach.  Furthermore,  we  know 
she  dwelt  near  to  Embury  in  Camden  Yalley,  New  York, 
and  afterward  she  lived  near  to  Mrs.  Embury  on  the  river 
St.  Lawrence.  John  Lawrence,  who  witnessed  her  abrupt 
intmsion  into  the  group  who  were  playing  cards,  was  also 
her  neighbor  in  the  latter  place,  and  Samuel  Embury,  son  of 
Philip  and  Margaret  Embury,  was  her  class-leader  there.  In 
a  word,  she  passed  most  of  her  days,  after  her  removal  from 
New  York,  among  the  people  who  knew  whether  her  story 
about  her  relation  to  the  origin  of  Methodism  in  America  was 
true  or  false.  John  Lawrence,  who  married  Mrs.  Embury, 
declared  that  her  story  was  true.  He  saw  her  destroy  the 
cards  and  he  was  at  Embury's  first  meeting  in  New  York. 
This  John  Lawrence  lived  so  long  that  the  yet  surviving  grand- 
son of  Barbara  Heck,  namely,  George  Heck,  saw  him  and 
remembers  seeing  liiin  die.  Throughout  all  this  time  John 
Lawrence  could  not  have  been  a  victim  of  an  illusion  on  this 
point,  nor  can  we  believe  that  he  gave  testimony  so  long  to 
a  falsehood.  Besides,  his  wife,  who,  when  these  events  oc- 
curred, was  Mrs.  Philip  Embury,  could  not  have  been  ignorant 
of  the  facts,  and  her  son  John  Lawrence  testifies,  as  we  have 
just  seen,  to  the  accuracy  of  Barbara  Heck's  narrative.  Had 
Mrs.  Heck's  story  been  false  there  were  those  near  by  her 


\A 


If 


I 


M      I 


who  could  have  exposed  its  untruthfulness.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  they  knew  her  story  to  be  true,  nor  that  they 
confirmed  it  by  their  testimony. 

(5)  The  Heck-Embury  tradition,  as  it  was  held  in  both 
New  York  and  Canada,  retained  the  one  and  only  Christian 
name  of  its  heroine,  which  was  Barbara.  Dr.  Wakeley,  in  his 
"  Lost  Chapters,"  wrote  of  the  woman  in  question  under  the 
name  of  Barbara.  It  thus  appears  that  the  tradition  in  New 
York  preserved  her  Christian  name,  even  though  it  other- 
wise, by  mistake  as  we  assume,  despoiled  her  of  her  historical 
identity.  Wherever  we  find  this  tradition,  whether  in  Ire- 
land, or  New  York,  or  Canada,  no  Christian  name  of  its  hero- 
ine is  heard  but  Barbara.  It  was  Barbara  who  wrote  the 
story  to  a  friend  in  Ireland.  It  was  ever  Barbara  in  Wake- 
ley's  "  Lost  Chapters  "  which  represents  the  New  York  version 
of  the  tradition.  It  was  Barbara  in  the  last  Will  and  Testa- 
ment of  Paul  Heck  in  1794.  This  the  following  passages 
from  that  instrument  will  show :  *'  I  give  and  bequeath  to 
Barbara,  my  dearly  beloved  wife,  this  house  wherein  I  now 
dwell  and  all  the  movables  therein,  to  be  hers  and  at  her 
command  as  long  as  she  lives."  Other  bequests  he  likewise 
made  to  her.  In  regard  to  the  executors  of  his  will,  Paul 
Heck  therein  said :  "  For  the  faithful  performance  hereof  I 
appoint  and  ordain  John  Dulmage  of  Edwardsburg  and  my 
son  Samuel  Heck  to  be  executors  of  this  my  last  will  and 
testament.  I  also  constitute  Barbara  my  wife  executrix  of 
this  my  testament  in  connection  with  the  two  before  men- 
tioned." The  names  of  the  witnesses  affixed  to  this  will  are 
Darius  Dunham,  John  Dulmage,  and  John  Heck.  The  first 
of  these  w^as  a  preacher  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
who  at  the  time  he  put  his  signature  to  this  testamentary 
document  was  in  the  service  of  his  denomination  in  Canada. 
The  fact  that  Dunham  was  a  witness  to  the  will  indicates 
that  Paul  and  Barbara  Heck,  in  their  advanced  age,  confided 
in  and  stood  closely  related  to  the  Methodist  preachers. 
Although  the  mother  of  Paul  Hick  has  left  behind  her  no 
Christian  name,  yet  wherever  this  tradition  has  been  met  it 
bears  the  name  Barbara.     The  reason  for  this,   I  think,  is 


72 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


found  only  in  the  fact  that  though  for  many  years  the  real 
person  in  that  historic  drama  was  lost  to  view  in  New  York, 
her  Christian  name  had  become  so  embalmed  in  the  story  of 
her  heroic  deeds  that  it  could  not  perish. 

(6)  The  story  told  by  Mrs.  Heck  of  her  relation  to  the 
beginning  of  Methodism  in  New  York  was  either  true  or 
false.  Tf  false,  she  was  conscious  of  its  falseness.  The 
testimony  is  explicit  and  incontrovertible  that  Barbara  Heck 
asserted,  both  in  writing  and  orally,  that  slu;  rebuked  a  group 
of  men  at  cards  in  New  Y^ork  and  then  besought  Philip  Em- 
bury to  interpose  his  ministry  for  their  salvation.  Was  her 
story  false  ?  If  so,  she  cannot  be  exculpated  by  the  hypothe- 
sis that  she  was  innocently  mistaken.  If  what  she  said  of 
her  relation  to  the  origin  of  Methodism  in  New  York  was 
not  true,  she  was  a  deliberate  liar ;  and  as  such  she  lived  and 
died.  Can  this  be  believed?  By  the  testimony  of  those 
who  knew  her  long  and  well  her  character  is  shown  to  have 
been  of  a  high  model  of  blamelessness  and  excellence.  She 
gave  proof,  down  to  the  end,  of  her  loyalty  to  God  and  to 
truth,  and  she  died  with  God's  book  of  truth  upon  her  per- 
son. Dr.  Bangs  himself  described  her  as  "an  eminent 
saint."  The  idea  of  her  testifying  to  a  lie  through  all  the 
last  thirty-eight  years  of  her  life  is  utterly  incredible. 

Moreover,  if  Mrs.  Heck's  story  were  false,  her  associates, 
such  as  John  Lawrence,  the  Emburys,  and  her  husband  Paul 
were  also  guilty  of  lying.  Apparently  no  stain  is  upon  their 
names.  They  lived  in  the  esteem  of  their  people,  and  they 
sleep  the  sleep  of  the  just.  It  is  absurd  to  think  that  they 
were  in  collusion  to  support  Barbara  Heck  to  the  end  in 
maintaining  a  lie.  The  soul  of  candor  revolts  from  a  sugges- 
tion so  shocking.  No,  Mrs.  Heck  knew  whereof  she  affirmed 
and  her  testimony  was  true.  John  Lawrence  knew  the  truth 
of  her  story  by  having  witnessed  the  destruction  of  the  cards 
by  her  hand,  and  for  more  than  half  a  century  he  testified  to 
the  truthfulness  of  her  narrative.  Lawrence's  wife,  who  prior 
to  her  marriage  to  him  was  the  widow  of  the  illustrious  Em- 
bury, left  the  tradition  in  its  integrity  of  Mrs.  Heck's  agency 
in  starting  Methodism  in  New  Yoik.     Surely  these  all  were 


MRS.    HECK  S   DEATH 


73 


I 


f 


w 


not  deceivers.  Beyond  all  question  their  testimony  to  Bar- 
bara Heck's  instrumentality  in  originating  the  Wesleyan 
movement  in  America  was  true. 

They  who  knew  the  truth  of  her  story  sleep  with  her  in 
the  graveyard  near  "  the  old  blue  church  "  on  the  banks  of 
the  St.  Lawrence.  In  October,  1884,  the  Kev.  Dr.  W.  H. 
AVithrow  made,  as  he  says,  a  pilgrimage  to  her  grave.  "  On 
a  white  marble  slab  is  the  following  inscription :  '  In  mem- 
ory of  Paul  Heck :  born  1730,  died  1792 ; '  *  and  under  it  '  Bar- 
bara, wife  of  Paul  Heck,  born  1731 ;  died  August  17,  1804.' 
Near  by  are  the  graves  of  seventeen  other  members  of  the 
Heck  family.  To  the  members  of  this  godly  family  the  prom- 
ised blessing,  even  length  of  days,  was  strikingly  vouchsafed. 
On  six  graves  lying  side  by  side  I  noted  the  following  ages  : 
seventy-three  ;  seventy-eight ;  seventy-eight ;  fifty-three  ; 
seventy-five ;  fifty-nine.  On  others  I  noted  the  following 
ages :  sixty-three ;  sixty-two ;  seventy  ;  seventy.  I  observed 
also  the  grave  of  a  little  Barbara  Heck,  aged  three  years  and 
six  months.  Near  the  grave  of  Barbara  Heck,  the  foundress 
of  Methodism  in  the  New  World,  is  that  of  her  life-long  com- 
panion the  beautiful  Margaret  Switzer,  who  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  married  Philip  Embury,  and  after  his  death  married 
John  Lawrence — a  pious  Methodist  who  left  Ireland  with 
Embury.     His  grave  is  beside  that  of  his  wife."  f 

In  this  visit  to  the  Heck  shrine  Dr.  Withrow  saw  "  the 
old  German  black-letter  Bible  "  on  which  the  eves  of  Barbara 
Heck  rested  just  before  her  transition  from  earth  to  glory. 
"  It  bears,"  he  says,  "  the  clearly  w^ritten  inscription  '  Paul 
Heck,  sein  buch,  item  gegeben  darin  zu  lernon  die  Nieder- 
reiche  sprache.     Amen.' " 

Her  grandson,  Mr.  George  Heck,  has  told  me  that  Bar- 
bara Heck  died  on  a  summer  day  while  sitting  in  the  grounds 
of  her  home  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  sudden 
and  mournful  event  occurred  August  17,  1804.  No  one  was 
with  her  at  the  moment  but  her  grandson,  John  Heck,  then 

*  As  is  shown  on  page  57,  this  date  of  Paul  Heck's  death  is  inaccurate, 
t  Dr.  Withrow's  article,  "  More  about  Barbara  Heck,"  Christian  Advocate,  New 
York,  February  25,  18«6. 


74 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


MRS.    heck's  christian   CHARACTER 


75 


a  small  boy,  who,  in  his  old  age,  told  Bishop  Merrill  he 
was  a  witness  of  her  death.  She  apparently  had  been  read- 
ing her  Bible,  w^hich  was  found  with  her  when  her  demise 
was  discovered.  She  had  slipped  partly  or  wholly  from  her 
chair,  seemingly  by  a  gentle  movement,  and  she  was  not, 
for  God  took  her.  Her  Bible  was  found  in  a  position  which 
indicated  that  it  had  lain  upon  her  lap.  Thus,  refreshed 
with  God's  Word,  she  quickly  passed  into  his  presence, 
leaving  to  the  Church  of  her  founding  and  of  her  love  a  rec- 
ord of  heroic  deeds,  and  an  example  of  beautiful  womanly  and 
Christian  virtues. 

In  the  discourse  of  Nathan  Bangs  at  the  dedication  of  the 
second  John  Street  Church,  in  a  foot-note,  as  we  have  seen, 
he  describes  Mrs.  Heck's  death  thus  :  "  It  seems  she  had 
frequently  prayed  for  a  sudden  death.  Sitting  with  her 
spectacles  on,  the  Bible  and  hymn-book  on  her  lap,  and  rais- 
ing her  hands  toward  heaven,  she  shouted  '  Glory  to  God,' 
and  fell  dead.  The  author,  while  travelling  in  Upper  Canada, 
preached  in  the  house  where  this  eminent  saint  thus  ended 
her  pilgrimage." 

Barbara  Heck's  grave  is  beside  that  of  the  husband  who 
was  blest  and  honored  by  her  long  companionship,  close  to 
the  old  blue  church  in  Augusta,  near  Maitland  and  Prescott, 
on  the  St.  Lawrence. 

Her  religious  character  was  positive.  It  sheds  lustre  upon 
the  Methodism  to  which  it  bears  an  imperishable  relation. 
It  was  of  the  true  Wesleyan  experimental  and  practical  type. 
Her  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Howard,  on  August  25, 
1858,  over  her  signature,  related  the  following  testimony  con- 
cerning her  sainted  grandparents,  Paul  and  Barbara  Heck  : 

*'  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  both  my  grandparents  lived 
holily  and  died  in  the  Lord.  My  own  mother  often  heard 
my  grandmother  [Barbara  Heck]  say  that  she  was  converted 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  and  that  she  never  lived  a  whole 
day  without  a  satisfactory  evidence  of  her  acceptance  in  the 
Beloved.  I  have  cause  to  believe  that  she  was  utterly  inca- 
pable of  an  untruth." 

Mrs.   Ann  McLean,   w^hose  first    husband  was   Samuel 


Coate,  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  popular  of  the  preach- 
ers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  his  day,  bore  tes- 
timony to  Mrs.  Heck's  goodness  thus  : 

*'  My  maiden  name  was  Dulmage  and  my  parents  were  of 
the  number  of  German-Irish  emigrants,  some  of  whom  con- 
stituted the  first  Methodist  society  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
I  knew  Barbara  Heck,  once  of  New  York  and  late  of  Canada. 
She  was  apparently  a  very  good  woman." 

The  Eev.  Joseph  Bass,  who,  according  to  a  Canadian 
Methodist  historian— the  Eev.  John  Carroll— was  "  a  highly 
respectable  local  preacher,  a  man  of  intelligence,  and  who  was 
appointed  leader  of  the  second  class  ^ever  formed  in  his  part 
of  Canada"  (Ontario),  delivered  this  testimony: 

"  I  knew  the  late  Paul  and  Barbara  Heck.  They  had 
been  in  the  country  (near  Prescott)  three  or  four  years  be- 
fore I  came  here  nearly  seventy  years  ago.  They  had  been 
Methodists  before  coming  here.  They  were  members  of  the 
first  class  that  I  ever  joined,  of  which  Samuel  Embury,  son  of 
the  celebrated  Philip,  was  the  leader.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Heck 
were  most  blameless  characters  and  continued  faithful  to  the 
end.  I  often  heard  them  speak  of  being  members  of  the  New 
York  society  and  I  heard  something  about  Mrs.  Heck  being 
the  means  of  starting  the  society." 

These  testimonies  give  assurance  that  Mrs.  Heck's  was  a 
spotless  character  of  exalted  worth.  Her  faith  was  shown 
by  her  works  and  particularly  in  the  vast  and  sublime  service 
she  rendered  to  Christianity  in  opening  the  Wesleyan  Pente- 
cost in  the  New  World. 

Mrs.  Heck's  birthplace  was  Ballingran,  Ireland.  Her 
father,  Sebastian  Buckle,  lived  and  died  in  the  house  in 
which  she  was  born.  "  It  is  still  standing,  in  venerable  age, 
apparently  with  sufiicient  stamina  to  be  an  ornament  and 
prominent  attraction  of  Ballingran  for  many  years  to  come."  "^ 
When  Barbara  Buckle  married  Paul  Heck  she  exchanged 
this  residence  for  his  house,  "  which  stood  not  very  far  from 
our  little  church,  and  every  trace  of  which  has  long  since 

*  Ireland  and  the  Centenary  of  American  Methodism.     By  the  Rev.   William 
Crook,  London,  18G6,  p.  78. 


If 


76 


THE    WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


passed  away.  There  is  uothing  very  particular  about  Mrs. 
Heck's  house.  It  is  an  ordinary  comfortable  cottage  with  a 
garden  before  the  door.  It  will  interest  many  to  know  that 
the  Methodist  ministers  are  still  hospitably  entertained  in 
the  house  which  was  the  birthplace  of  Barbara  Heck."* 

The  Rev.  William  Case  was  an  eminent  Methodist  preach- 
er and  a  fellow-laborer  in  Canada  of  the  Rev.  Nathan  Bangs 
ill  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  1855  Case 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  latter,  which  Dr.  Abel  Stevens  has  repro- 
duced in  the  first  volume  of  his  "  History  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church."  It  shows  that  Case  gave  full  credence  to 
the  tradition  of  Barbara  Heck's  relation  to  the  origin  of  the 
Wesley  an  cause  in  New  York  City.  It  also  bears  testimony 
to  the  character  of  the  family  of  which  she  was  the  honored 
mother.  In  this  letter  to  Dr.  Bangs,  Case,  of  whom  Stevens 
says  "  there  has  been  no  better  authority  in  Canadian  Meth- 
odist history,"  wrote  this  notable  passage :  "  You  will  re- 
member the  names  of  Samuel  and  Jacob  Heck  of  Augusta, 
and  tlio  Emburys  of  the  Bay  of  Quinte— the  former  the  sons 
of  Paul  Heck  and  his  ivorthy  companion,  the  parents  of  Meth- 
odism in  the  city  of  New  York  and  America.  The  parents 
are  gone,  and  the  sons  have  followed  them  in  the  way  of  ho- 
liness to  Glory." 

Having  thus  established  the  identity  of  Barbara  Heck, 
and  traced  her  history  down  to  the  tomb,  I  now  take  leave  of 
her,  the  true  w^oman,  the  blameless  Christian,  the  honored 
wife,  the  saintly  mother  of  a  godly  seed,  the  mother  also  of 
American  Methodism,  a  disciple  who  was  faithful  unto  death, 
and  whose  name  will  live  and  shine  illustrious  and  potent 
for  righteousness  as  long  as  the  sun  and  the  moon  endure. 

*  Ireland  and  the  Centenary  of  American  Methodism.     By  the  Rev.  William 

Crook,  London,  IStit),  p.  78. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  LABORS  OF  EMBURY  AND  WEBB  WITH  THE  SOCIETY  IN  NEW 
YORK  PRIOR  TO  1770,  AND  THE  ERECTION  OF  JOHN  STREET 
PREACHING-HOUSE. 

KousED  to  evangelical  activity  by  Mrs.  Heck's  persuasive 
pleading  Philip  Embury  had  the  joy  of  beholding  the  rise  and 
progress  of  a  new  religious  reformation  in  his  adopted  city. 

To  him  belongs  the  distinction  of  having  preached  the 
first  Wesleyan  sermon  in  New  York,  and  also  of  forming  the 
first  society  of  Methodists  in  this  country.  Beginning  with 
an  audience  of  five  persons  he  soon  was  compelled  to  find  a 
larger  place  for  the  increasing   numbers  that   came  to  his 

meetings. 

According  to  Peter  Parks,  Embury  lived  in  an  upper 
room  in  Barracks  Street.  There  has  been  some  discussion 
concerning  the  exact  locality  of  that  street,  and  whether 
it  was  the  street  afterward  known  by  the  name  of  Augus- 
tus. But  Parks— who  the  Eev.  Ezekiel  Cooper  says  was  five 
years  old  when  Methodism  began  in  New  York,  and  became 
a  member  of  the  original  society  "  when  quite  a  youth  "—dis- 
tinctly declares  in  his  "  True  Statement"  that  Embury  lived  in 
Barracks  Street,  "  ten  doors  from  the  barracks,  now  called 
Augusta  [Augustus]  Street."  Parks  also  says  that  the  woman 
who  "  persuaded  Mr.  Embury  to  have  preaching  in  his  house 
resided  opposite  the  barracks."  As  he  lived  in  the  city,  and 
as  his  grandmother  and  mother  were  among  the  early  members 
of  the  society,  and  as  he  must  have  been  nine  years  old  when 
Embury  left  New  York,  it  is  probable  that  Parks  possessed 
accurate  knowledge  of  Embury's  residence.  The  historical 
sketch  in  the  Discipline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
of  1791,  conveys  the  information  that  in  the  same  year  that 


r 


1 


78 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


Embury  opened  his  ministry  in  liis  domicile  "  Thomas  Webb 
preached  in  a  hired  room  near  the  barracks."  This  statement 
is  corroborated  by  the  earliest  extant  account  of  the  origin  of 
the  movement  in  New  York,  which  is  in  a  letter  written  there- 
from to  Mr.  Wesley  by  T.  T.  (Thomas  Taylor),  April  11, 
1768.  Taylor  therein  says  that  Embury  "  spoke  at  first  only 
in  his  own  house ; "  but  afterward  an  empty  room  was 
rented  in  the  "  neighborhood,  which  w^as  the  most  infamous 
street  in  the  city,  adjoining  the  barracks."  * 

The  polluted  moral  atmosphere  of  the  locality  in  which 


*  The  vnriter  of  this  letter,  whichis  signed  T.  T.,  is  identified  thus  :  Speaking  of 
the  purchase  of  the  ground  for  the  Wesleyan  chapel  in  New  York,  he  says  :   ""  There 
are  eight  of  us  who  are  joint  purchasers,  among  whom  Mr.  Lupton  and  Mr.  Webb 
are  men  of  property."    The  original  deed  of  conveyance  of  this  ground,  which  is  in 
the  custody  of  the  Eighteenth  Street  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  New  York,  bears 
the  date  of  March  oO,  1768.   It  contains  the  names  of  the  purchasers,  and  their  number 
is  exactly  the  same  as  given  in  the  letter  by  T.  T.    The  names  in  the  instrument 
of  conveyance  are  these,  namely  :   *•'  Philip  Embury,  Wdliam  Lupton,  Charles  White, 
Richard  Sause,  Henry  Newton,  Paul  Heck,  and  Thomas  Taylor  [T.  T.],  all  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  Thomas  Webb,  of  Queens  County."    That  the  writer  of 
the  letter  was  Thomas  Taylor  seems  to  be  clear.     Taylor  is  fairly  accurate  no  doubt 
in  his  account  of  the  origin  of  Methodism  in  New  York,  but  I  cannot  accept  his 
authority  absolutely  as  to  the  time.      For  example,  the  statement  occurs    in  his 
letter  that  Whitefield's  "  last  journey  "  to  New  York  was  '' al)out  fourteen  years 
since  ; "  whereas  Whitefield  was  in  New  Y'ork  in  December,  1763,  and  possibly  in  the 
beginning  of  1764 ;    that   is  to  say,  a  little  more  than  four  years   before  Taylor 
wrote.     This  letter  was  written  five  and  a  half  months  after  Taylor  came  to  New 
York  from  England  ;  and  while,  as  a  new  emigrant,  he  was  acquainted  in  a  general 
way  with  the  facts  relating  to  Embury's  work  it  is  not  improbable  that  he  was 
without  exact  knowledge  of  the  dates.     When,  therefore,  he  states  that  Embury 
was  roused  up  "  eighteen  months  ago,"  he  no  doubt  gave  the  time  as  he  understood 
it,  but  probably  not  with  accuracy.     Asbury,  in  the  Discipline  of  1791,  says  that 
"Thomas  Webb  preached  in  a  hired  room  near  the  Barracks,  in  1766."     Taylor, 
writing  April  11,  1768,  says  that  Webb  found  the  New  York  Methodists  out  "  about 
fourteen  months  ago,"  which  fixes  the  time  at  ''about"  the  middle  of  February, 
1767.     Taylor's  use  of  the  word  "about"  shows,  however,  that  he  did  not  profess 
exactness  as  to  the  time.     As  I  have  already  shown,  I  regard  Jesse  Lee,  the  author 
of  the  first  extended  History  of  the  Methodists  in  America,  as  better  entitled  to 
acceptance  than  any  other  Methodist  historian  and  writer,  especially  where  dates 
are  involved.     The  letter  of  T.  T.  (Taylor),  which  was  made  public  in  an  appendix 
to  Atmore's  Methodist  Memorial  in  1804,  is  valuable  for  the  light  it  throws  upon 
an  obscure  period  of  the  Wesleyan  movement  in  this  country,  but  its  author,  concern- 
in"-  whom  nothing  is  known  except  what  he  states  in  his  letter,  and  who  was  but  a 
stranger  in  New  York  when  he  wrote,  and  probably  much  occupied  with  his  private 
concerns,  perhaps  was  not  exactly  informed  in  every  instance  respecting  the  dates 
with  which  he  connected  events.     We  know  nothing  of  Taylor's  accuracy  as  a  his- 
torical writer,  only  as  we  may  judge  from  his  epistle. 


DRINKING-HOUSES   AND   MILITARY  BARRACKS  79 

the  New  York  Methodists  assembled  after  they  went  out 
from  Embury's  house  is  shown  by  a  recent  authority,  the 
late  Mr.  Henry  13.  Dawson,  who,  in  an  article  in  the  New 
York  Christian  Advocate,  April  16,  1885,  says :  "  In  April, 
1776,  a  record  was  made  of  the  retailers  of  spirituous  liquors 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  a  copy  of  which  is  before  me,  and  I 
find  that  on  Barracks  Street  there  were  three  ;  at  the  '  back 
of  the  barracks '  [which  extended  along  a  line  parallel  with 
the  Chambers  Street  of  our  day,  but  south  of  it],  there  was 
one  unlicensed  retailer ;  while  at  the  '  corner  of  Barracks,' 
there  was  one  who  was  licensed  ;  '  near  the  Barracks  '  there 
were  three  that  were  licensed  ;  and  near  the  Barracks  gate 
there  were  three  others,  one  of  them  unlicensed.  It  will  be 
seen,  therefore,  that  the  neighborhood  of  the  Barracks  was 
well  contaminated  with  the  elements  of  \  ice.  But  Barracks 
Street,  on  which  there  was  some  pretension  to  respectability, 
presented  only  three  of  the  eleven  which  were  thus  officially 
noticed."  If  in  1776  this  first  field  of  American  Wesleyan- 
ism  was  so  base,  it  is  quite  possible  that  it  was  even  worse 
when  Embury  first  unfurled  the  Methodist  banner  there. 

Thus,  among  drinking-houses,  in  near  proximity  to  a 
military  barracks,  in  a  very  precinct  of  sm  which  was  desig- 
nated as  "  infamous,"  the  first  band  of  American  Methodists 
set  up  their  banners.  Jesse  Lee  asserts,  in  his  History, 
that  "  but  few  thought  it  worth  their  while  to  assemble  with 
them  in  so  contemptible  a  place,"  and  Ezekiel  Cooper  says, 
"  they  were  a  poor  and  persecuted  people,  and  had  but  few 

friends."  * 

In  his  account  of  this  stage  of  the  work,  Peter  Parks  does 
not  mention  the  "  hired  room,"  but  speaks  only  of  Embury's 
house  as  the  meeting-place  of  the  Wesleyans  before  their  re- 
moval to  the  rigging-loft.  We  are  ignorant,  therefore,  con- 
cerning how  much  of  the  good  work  which  Parks  artlessly 
describes  was  achieved  in  Embury's  dwelling,  and  how  much 
in  the  hired  room  adjoining  the  Barracks. 

The  movement  now  advanced  rapidly.  "  There  was  a 
great  excitement  among  the  people,"  says  Parks.     "  Many 

*  Cooper  on  Asbury,  p.  73. 


80 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   A3I ERICA 


were  awakened  and  some  converted.  Among  tliose  that 
were  converted  was  my  grandmother,  Catherine  Taylor,  and 
my  mother,  Mary  Parks.  At  this  time  Mr.  Embury  formed  a 
class  of  all  the  members  then  in  the  society,  who  were  twelve. 
There  were  three  musicians  belonging  to  the  Sixteenth  Regi- 
ment of  the  British  troops,  then  stationed  in  the  barracks  in 
Barracks  Street.  Their  names  were  James  Hodge,  Addison 
Low,  and  John  Buckley.  They  were  exhorters,  and  assisted 
Mr.  Embury  in  the  meetings.  There  were  some  souls  awak- 
ened and  converted  in  the  poor  -  house.  Mrs.  Devericks 
[Devereux?]  was  one.  Through  her  instrumentality  Mr.  Em- 
bury was  called  to  preach  in  the  poor-house.  By  this  means 
the  master  of  the  poor-house,  Billy  Littlewood,  was  awak- 
ened and  converted." 

Thus  we  see  that  the  first  Methodists  of  America  plunged 
into  the  purlieus  of  vice,  and  also  bore  their  glorious  message 
to  the  outcasts  of  poverty.  Close  by  the  ban-acks,  amid 
scenes  that  were  "  infamous,"  the  gospel  as  proclaimed  by  the 
mechanic  Embury  had  "free  course,"  and  in  the  almshouse 
the  superintendent,  Billy  Littlewood,  became  its  trophy.  He 
was  a  useful  convert.  In  October,  1773,  Joseph  Pilnioor,  in 
Pliiladelphia,  wrote  in  his  diary  :  "  Tuesday  I  was  to  have 
gone  to  Chester,  but  had  so  much  writing  to  do  I  was  glad  to 
send  Billy  Littlewood,  who,  though  no  preacher,  is  a  good 
man,  and  will,  I  hope,  be  a  blessing  to  the  people." 

And  now  a  military  hero  appears  among  the  lowly  Wes- 
leyans  of  New  York.  Lieutenant,  otherwise  called  Captain, 
Webb,  is  a  name  famed  in  two  hemispheres  for  his  achieve- 
ments as  "  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ."  In  the  historical 
account  of  the  Bise  of  Methodism  in  New  York,  which  was 
published  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Discipline  in  1791,  it 
is  said  that  "  Webb  preached  in  a  hired  room  near  the  bar- 
racks," in  176G.  Nathan  Bangs,  in  his  John  Street  dedica- 
tion sermon,  described  the  beginning  of  the  work  in  Em- 
bury's domicile,  and  its  advance  to  a  hired  room,  the  expense 
of  which  was  paid  by  voluntary  contributions.  *'  About  this 
time,"  says  Bangs,  in  that  discourse,  "  this  small  society  re- 
ceived an  increase  of  strength  by  the  gospel  labors  of  Cap- 


CAPTAIN   WEBB'S    PREACHING 


81 


tain  Webb,  of  the  British  army.  Appearing  before  the  con- 
gregation in  his  military  dress,  the  novelty  of  his  appearance 
and  the  pathos  and  vehemence  with  which  he  preached,  so 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  people  that  the  room  in  which 
they  assembled  was  soon  found  insufficient  to  contain  those 
who  wished  to  hear.  Accordingly  they  rented  a  rigging-loft 
in  AVilliam  Street.  Here  they  assembled  for  some  time, 
while  Mr.  Embury  continued  to  preach  with  much  success. 
Captain  Webb  did  not  confine  his  gospel  labors  to  New  York, 
but  he  visited  Long  Island  and  Philadelphia,  in  which  places 
he  preached  successfully.  Through  his  occasional  visits  and 
the  unremitted  and  conscientious  exertions  of  Mr.  Embury  in 
New  York,  the  society  flourished  and  increased  in  numbers. 
Persevering  in  their  efforts  to  promote  the  present  and  future 
welfare  of  their  fellow-men,  this  place  also  became  insufficient 
to  contain  the  people  that  assembled.  They  therefore  began 
to  think  seriously  of  erecting  a  house  of  worship." 

Bangs  further  stated  in  this  sermon  that  a  subscription 
paper  was  issued,  and  that  they  applied  "  to  the  mayor  of  the 
city  and  to  opulent  citizens,  explained  to  them  their  design, 
and  from  them  they  received  liberal  donations.  Captain 
Webb  also  lent  his  influence  to  encourage  them.  Thus  aided, 
they  finally  succeeded  in  erecting  a  house  for  God's  worship, 
which  occupied  the  place  where  this  in  which  we  are  assem- 
bled stands." 

In  the  same  discourse  Bangs  says  the  demolition  of  the 
first  John  Street  Church  began  on  May  13,  1817,  and,  on  the 
22d  of  the  same  month,  "the  foundation  sermon  was 
preached  "  for  the  second  edifice  on  that  spot. 

Captain  Webb's  ministry,  in  the  initial  period  of  the 
movement  in  New  York,  was  notable.  "  It  was  usual  at  that 
time,"  says  an  early  writer,  "  for  military  men  to  wear  on  all 
occasions  their  regimental  suit.  To  behold  in  the  pulpit  a 
preacher  arrayed  in  a  scarlet  coat  with  splendid  facings,  hav- 
ing a  sword,  with  the  Bible  before  him,  was  one  of  those 
anomalies  which  the  world,  while  it  ridicules  the  person,  can- 
not help  admiring  the  boldness  of  the  act.  Captain  Webb, 
by  exciting  curiosity,  obtained  hearers,  many  of  whom,  con- 
6 


82 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


vinced  by  liis  eloquence,  under  the  influence  of  divine  grace, 
attached  themselves  to  the  society.  Some  of  the  first  mem- 
bers still  living  remember  well  his  animated  manner,  and 
speak  in  terms  of  high  approbation  of  his  blunt  and  em- 
phatic style.  '  You  must  repent  or  be  forever  damned,'  often 
resounded  in  the  ears  of  the  wicked,  as  his  arm,  fitted  for 
wielding  the  sword,  fell  with  violence  upon  the  desk."  * 

It  is  said  Captain  Webb  lost  an  eye  in  a  military  engage- 
ment. "  His  figure  was  portly,  his  countenance  commanding, 
and  he  usually  wore  across  his  forehead  a  black  ribbon  with 
a  blind  attached,  to  cover  his  wounded  eye." 

Not  only  did  Webb  attract  by  the  novelty  of  his  soldierly 
aspect  and  bearing,  but  his  doctrines  were  new,  as  the  man- 
ner of  their  proclamation  was  vivid  and  forcible.  He  de- 
clared "  point  blank  to  the  people,"  says  Taylor  to  Wesley, 
"that  all  their  knowledge  and  religion  were  not  worth  a  rush 
unless  their  sins  were  forgiven  and  they  had  the  witness  of 
God's  Spirit  with  theirs  that  they  were  the  children  of  God. 
This  strange  doctrine,  with  some  peculiarities  in  his  person, 
obliged  the  society  to  look  out  for  a  larger  place  to  preach  in. 
They  soon  found  a  rigging-house,  sixty  feet  in  length  and 
eighteen  in  breadth." 

This  new  centre  of  New  York  Methodism  was  in  Cart 
and  Horse  Street,  now  William,  near  John  Street.  "  They 
erected  a  desk  and  benches,"  says  Peter  Park,  "  and  there 
held  preaching  on  the  Sabbath  morning  at  six  o'clock,  and  in 
the  evening,  and  sometimes  in  week  evenings.  They  all 
went  to  the  English  Episcopal  Church  on  the  Sabbath  day  at 
the  regular  hours  and  communed  there.  At  this  time 
Charles  White  and  Pilchard  Sause  came  over.t  They  joined 
the  little  society,  and  were  very  useful  to  them.  Henry 
Newton  also  joined  the  Methodists,  and  was  very  useful 
at  this  time." 

*  A  Short  Historical  Account  of  the  Early  Society  of  Methodists  established  in 
the  City  of  New  York  in  the  Year  176o.  New  York,  1824.  This  document  dates 
the  origin  of  the  movement  in  New  York  three  years  earlier  than  the  true  date.  It 
is  anonymous. 

+  Parks  and  Taylor  disagree  concerning  the  land  whence  White  and  Sause  came. 
Taylor,  in  17r)S,  wrote  Wesley  that  they  came  from  Dublin  ;  Parks  asserts  they 
came  from  England.     VVakeley  in  Lost  Chapters  says  both  were  from  Dublin. 


WEBB  AND   EMBURY 


83 


i 


Captain  Webb's  residence  was  near  Jamaica,  Long  Isl- 
and, among  Mrs.  Webb's  relatives.  Embury  wrought  as  a 
mechanic,  but  he  also  labored  "  in  Word  and  Doctrine."  By 
his  preaching  and  his  other  services  he  nourished  the  young 
society.  Webb  it  is  said  preached  occasionally  on  the 
heights  of  Brookl}Ti.  He  also  began  to  preach  in  his  house 
and  elsewhere  on  Long  Island,  where  his  appeals  were  suc- 
cessful. "Within  six  months,"  says  Taylor  to  Wesley, 
"  about  twenty-four  persons  received  justifying  grace,  nearly 
haK  of  them  whites,  the  rest  negroes.     While  Mr.  Webb  was 

to  borrow  his  own  phrase  — '  felling  trees  on  Long  Island,' 

brother  Embury  was  exhorting  all  who  attended  on  Thurs- 
day evenings  and  Sundays,  morning  and  evening,  at  the  rig- 
f^ins-house,  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come.  His  hearers  be- 
gan  to  increase,  and  some  gave  heed  to  his  report,  about  the 
time  the  gracious  Providence  of  God  brought  me  safe  to  New 
York  after  a  very  favorable  passage  of  six  weeks  from  Ply- 
mouth. It  was  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  October  [1767]  when 
I  arrived,  recommended  to  a  person  for  lodging.  I  inquired 
of  my  host,  who  was  a  very  religious  man,  if  any  Methodists 
were  in  New  York.  He  answered  that  there  was  one  Captain 
Webb,  a  very  strange  sort  of  man,  who  lived  on  Long  Island, 
and  who  sometimes  preached  at  one  Embury's  at  the  rigging- 
house.  In  a  few  dsijs  I  found  out  Embury.  I  soon  found  of 
what  spirit  he  was,  and  that  he  was  personally  acquainted 
with  you  and  your  doctrines,  and  that  he  had  been  a  helper 
in  Ireland.  He  had  formed  two  classes,  one  of  the  men  and 
the  other  of  the  women,  but  had  never  met  the  society  apart 
from  the  congregation,  although  there  were  six  or  seven  men 
and  as  many  women  who  had  a  clear  sense  of  their  accept- 
ance in  the  Beloved. 

"Mr.  Embury  lately  has  been  more  zealous  than  for- 
merly ;  the  consequence  of  which  is  that  he  is  more  lively  in 
preaching,  and  his  gifts  as  well  as  graces  are  much  increased. 
Great  numbers  of  serious  persons  come  to  hear  God's  word 
as  for  their  lives.  Their  numbers  increased  so  fast  that  our 
house,  for  six  weeks  past,  would  not  contain  half  the  people." 

Thus  through  the  eyes  of  a  personal  witness  we  see  the 


84 


THE   WESLtYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


zealous  work  and  tlie  signal  success  of  tlie  primitive  Wes- 
leyans  of  New  York.  The  notable  progress  of  the  movement, 
as  reported  to  Mr.  Wesley  in  the  spring  of  1768  by  Taylor, 
seems  to  have  entered  into  the  Methodist  traditions  in  New 
York ;  for  the  Kev.  Ezekiel  Cooper  appended  to  the  manu- 
script of  Peter  Parks's  "  True  Statement "  these  statements, 
to  wit :  *'  The  rigging-loft  became  too  small  to  contain  the 
crowded  congregation  which  attended,  which  led  them  to  a 
consultation  and  an  arrangement  to  provide  a  larger  place. 
A  subscription  was  opened  for  the  purpose  of  building  a 
preaching-house,  and  they  met  with  such  encouragement 
from  smidry  liberal  subscribers  that  they  bought  a  few  ad- 
joining lots  on  John  Street  on  which  they  proceeded  to  build 
the  first  Mrthodist  preaching-house  in  America,  where  the 
present  John  Street  Church  now  stands." 

In  the  consultations  which  were  held  by  the  society  con- 
cerning  what    provision    should    be    made    for    the    people 
that  thronged  within  and  about  the  "  rigging-loft,"  Embury 
proposed  renting  a  site  for  twenty-one  years  and  erecting 
thereon  a  wooden  tabernacle.     An  agreement  was  made  for  a 
lot,  and  a  lease  thereof  was  about  to  be  executed  when  re- 
course was  had  to  fasting  and  prayer  for  "two  several  days" 
that  Divine  direction  might  be  obtained  and  that  the  pro- 
posed advance  might  be  attended  with  the  blessing  of  God. 
Then    occurred  an   unexpected   event.     A  Christian   young 
man,  who  was  not  a  member  of  the  society,  but  a  constant 
worshipper   in   the    rigging -loft,    offered   to    contribute   ten 
pounds   toward   buying   a  site    for  a    chapel.      He  waited 
upon  a  lady  who  owned  two  lots  and  got  the  terms  on  which 
she   would   sell   them.      The  price— six  hundred  pounds- 
would  on  approved  secuiity  be  permitted  to  rest  as  a  debt 
thereon.     On  the  ground  was  a  house  which  rented  for  eigh- 
teen pounds  a  year.     Again  they  sought  guidance  through 
prayer.     Then  a  decision  was  reached  to  buy  the  premises. 
The  house  became  the  parsonage  which  appears  in  the  pict- 
ures of  the  original  church  edifice.     It  "  was  a  building  in  the 
antique  taste  of  the  Dutch."     Dr.  Stevens  erred  in  the  state- 
ment in  his  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  " 


ERECTION   OF  THE  NEW   YORK   CHAPEL 


85 


that  "  a  parsonage  adjacent  to  the  chapel  was  built  in  1770." 
Eight  men,  as  we  have  seen,  became  the  joint  purchasers  of 
the  property.  The  locality  was  known  as  Golden  Hill,  "  a 
rising  ground  near  the  borders  of  the  city,  now  named 
John  Street."  A  new  conveyance  was  made,  as  we  shall 
hereafter  see,  in  1770,  by  which  the  eight  men  ceased  to  hold 
the  property  and  it  was  placed  in  fee-simple  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Methodists. 

The  movement  of  the  yoimg  society  to  build  a  house  of 
worship  was  the  occasion  of  an  outbreak  of  opposition. 
"  Before  we  began  to  talk  of  building,"  wrote  Taylor  to  Wes- 
ley, "  the  devil  and  his  children  were  very  peaceable  ;  but 
since,  many  have  cursed  us  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and 
labored  to  stop  congregations  from  assisting  us.  But  He 
that  sitteth  in  the  heavens  laughed  them  to  scorn.  Many 
have  broken  through  and  given  their  friendly  assistance. 
We  have  collected  above  one  hmidred  pounds  more  than  our 
own  contributions  and  have  reason  to  hope  on  the  whole  we 
shall  have  two  hundred  pounds." 

The  earnest  Methodists  of  New  York,  after  i^rayer  for  the 
Divine  guidance  and  blessing,  humbly  but  boldly  advanced 
in  their  arduous  enterprise  of  building  a  temple  for  God. 
"  Providence  favored  Methodism  too  much  to  allow  of  its  fail- 
ure. The  situation  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  York  in  relig- 
ious matters  was  somewhat  peculiar.  A  professed  infidel 
dare  not  sIioav  himself.  Open  Atheism  was  known  as  a 
monster  of  European  production.  The  Catholics  whom  fort- 
une had  cast  upon  these  shores  were  obliged  to  hide  their 
rites  under  a  mask  of  thorough  concealment.  Nearly  every- 
body belonged  to  some  sect,  and  indifference  was  viewed 
with  utter  dislike.  Even  the  troops  that  paraded  on  a  Sun- 
day morning,  in  marching  down  Broadway,  filed  off  to  the 
right  or  left,  some  to  one  church  and  some  to  another.  All 
were  religious,  or  pretended  to  be  so  ;  while  the  laws,  taking 
an  immediate  interest  in  affairs  of  conscience,  required  the 
strictest  attention  to  the  established  forms  of  worship. 

"  In  what  light  then  must  the  Methodists  have  been  re- 
garded, who,  boldly  throwing  aside  the  shackles  of  prejudice 


86 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


WILLIAM   LUPTON'S   IMPORTANT   WORK 


87 


and  hereditary  customs,  pursued  a  direct  path  to  Heaven, 
and  defied  the  most  despotic  of  all  laws,  that  which  attempts 
to  bind  men's  consciences  ?  They  were  ridiculed  and  hated, 
but  despised  they  could  not  be  ;  for  mankind,  where  they  fear 
the  reproofs  which  an  amiable  character  can  cast  upon  their 
follies,  are  never  capable  of  real  disdam  how  much  soever 
they  may  feign  it.  Dreading  the  influence  of  their  incontro- 
vertible doctrines  it  required  all  the  art  of  parents  to  keep 
their  unprejudiced  children  from  what  they  deemed  a  spir- 
itual contagion.  An  old  member  of  the  church  relates  to 
this  day  the  desire  he  entertained  in  his  youth  of  finding  a 
truly  religious  people,  tells  the  difficulty  he  met  with  in  es- 
caping the  threats  of  his  family ;  of  his  resorting  secretly  up 
the  winding  stairs  where  Embury  used  to  preach,  and  his 
listening  there  with  great  delight  to  all  the  tmths  of  the 

Gospel. 

"  Messrs.  Lupton,  Sause,  Newton,  AYhite,  Jarvis,  and  a 
few^  more,  were  the  persons  most  engaged  in  erecting  the  first 
Methodist  Church  in  America.  Of  these,  AViUiam  Lupton,  a 
very  respectable  merchant,  proved  himself  the  chief  agent 
and  support,  whose  maxim,  it  is  said,  was,  '  The  church  first, 
and  then  my  family.'  They  purchased  materials  and  con- 
tracted for  the  building  in  their  own  names  and  upon  their 
individual  securities.  The  dimensions  were  forty-two  feet 
wdde  by  sixty  feet  long.  The  fire  of  opposition  raged  tre- 
mendously against  the  rising  edifice.  Its  enemies  loudly 
predicted  its  downfall.  Pamphlets  were  published  and  dis- 
courses delivered  in  order  to  frustrate  its  completion."  * 

In  this  time  of  its  exigence  the  struggling  society  was 
fortunate  in  having  a  member  who  held  an  influential  posi- 
tion in  the  citv  as  a  citizen,  a  merchant,  and  a  man  of  prop- 
erty,  namely,  William  Lupton.  He  united  his  fortunes  with 
it  early.  Joseph  Pilmoor  says  the  original  American  Meth- 
odists "after  some  time  were  joined  by  William  Lupton, 
a  gentleman  of  considerable  property  in  New  York,  and  not 
lon^  after  bv  Mr.  Thomas  Webb,  who  became  a  preacher 
among  them."     Now,  according  to  the  historical  sketch  in 

*  A  Short  Historical  Account  of  the  Early  Methodist  Society  in  New  York. 


r 


[ 


the  Methodist  Episcopal  Discipline,  Webb  came  in  the  year 
of  the  society's  origin.  Therefore  if  Lupton  was  in  it  before 
him  he  must  have  joined  it  in  the  early  months  of  its  exist- 
ence. 

Mr.  Lupton  was  zealously  devoted  to  the  movement.  His 
presence,  piety,  and  means  gave  confidence  to  its  adherents 
and  emboldened  them  to  undertake  the  erection  of  a  chapel. 
As  we  have  seen,  he  was  one  of  eight  members  who  jointly 
bought  the  site,  and,  except  Webb,  he  was  the  only  man 
whose  financial  position  gave  to  the  project  a  warrant  of  suc- 
cess. Without  him  it  may  be  doubted  whether  it  w  ould  then 
have  been  accomplished  The  New  York  Methodists,  rich  in 
faith  but  poor  in  purse,  leaned  on  Lupton  and  Webb  in  their 
arduous  work  of  erecting  a  sacred  edifice,  whereby  the  Wes- 
leyan  cause  was  established  permanently  in  New  York.  The 
courage  which  their  devotion  and  liberality  gave  to  their 
brethren  at  this  critical  juncture  is  illustrated  by  Thomas 
Taylor  in  his  letter  of  1768,  to  Mr.  Wesley,  in  which  he  de- 
clares they  had  reason  to  hope  "  in  the  whole  we  shall  have 
two  hundred  pounds  ;  but  the  house  will  cost  us  four  hun- 
dred pounds  more,  so  that  unless  God  is  pleased  to  raise  up 
friends  we  shall  yet  be  at  a  loss.  I  believe  Mr.  Webb  and 
Mr.  Lupton  will  borrow  or  advance  two  hundred  pounds 
rather  than  the  building  should  not  go  forward." 

The  subscription  for  the  erection  of  the  John  Street 
Chapel,  a  copy  of  which  still  exists  in  "the  Old  Book,"  shows 
that  Captain  Thomas  Webb  put  his  signature  at  its  top  and 
appended  thereto  the  sum  of  thirty  pounds.  The  next  name 
on  the  subscription  is  that  of  William  Lupton,  which  stands 
for  twenty  pounds.  A  second  time  the  same  name  appears 
in  the  document  with  an  additional  contribution  of  ten 
pounds,  which  makes  Lupton's  total  subscription  equal  to 
that  of  Webb's,  namely,  thirty  pounds.  Dr.  Stevens  incor- 
rectly says  Webb's  contribution  was  the  largest  sum  by  one- 
third  given  by  any  one  person.*  He  must  have  failed  to 
note  that  Lupton's  name  occurs  twice  in  the  list  of  contribu- 
tors.    Dr.  Wakeley,  in  "  Lost  Chapters,"  states  what  "  the  Old 

*  Stevens's  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  vol.  i.,  p.  63. 


1   . 


88 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


Book  "  attests,  that  Mr.  Lupton  "  not  only  gave  his  money  and 
time,  but  he  also  lent  the  infant  church  in  1768  one  hundred 

and  ninety  pounds." 

The  humble  Methodists  who  began  their  great  work  of 
rearing  a  Wesleyan  temple  in  New  York  with  fastmg  and 
prayer,  were  sustained  amid  discouraging  hindrances  and 
hostile  demonstrations  by  the  assurance  with  which  at  Jeru- 
salem Nehemiah  emboldened  his  workmen  :  "  Our  God  will 
light  for  us."  The  hearts  of  many  were  turned  kindly  and 
generously  toward  their  sacred  project.  Many  citizens,  in- 
cluding several  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England,  mem- 
bers of  the  medical  and  legal  professions,  and  gentlemen  of 
station  and  wealth,  contributed  to  the  funds  for  the  edifice. 
Yet  the  work  was  difficult.  Thomas  Bell,  a  mechanic,  who 
worked  on  the  building,  wrote,  May  13, 1769,  that  *'they  were 
soon  put  to  it  in  building  their  house.  They  made  several 
collections  about  the  town  for  it,  and  they  went  to  PhUa- 
delphia  and  got  part  of  the  money  there." 

This  first  material  fortification  of  Methodism  in  America 
was  monumental  of  a  splendid  victory  over  adverse  conditions 
and  forces,  won  by  a  feeble  band  who  counted  all  things  but 
loss  for  Christ.  The  report  of  their  victory  spread  afar. 
The  parent  Methodism  heard  it  and  was  glad.  The  eyes  of 
Wesley  were  attracted  to  the  new  fortress  of  the  advancing 
and  triumphing  cause  of  which  he  was  the  human  leader  ; 
and  prayers  in  its  behalf  and  thanksgivings  ascended  from 
the  English  Conference  to  the  skies.  The  effects  of  that 
achievement  are  visible  all  about  this  great  land  and  have 
reached  to  other  lands  and  continents. 

The  new  chapel  which,  amid  prayer,  toil,  self-denial,  and 
faith,  h;ul  risen,  was  for  some  years  unfinished.  "The 
gallery  had  no  breastwork  nor  any  stairs  to  ascend  it ;  boys 
would  mount  by  a  ladder  and  sit  upon  the  platform.  The 
lower  part  for  a  long  time  had  only  benches  without  even  a 
back.  So  homely  was  the  place  where  the  Almighty  deigned 
to  show  forth  his  power."  * 

A  law  of  the  colony  did  not  permit  dissenters  to  worship 

*  Young's  History  of  Methodism,  p.  239. 


f 


I 


I 


dp:dication  of  the  john  street  chapel 


89 


in  a  chm-ch.  To  elude  this  obstacle  the  Methodists  built  a 
fireplace  in  their  new  chapel,  which  gave  it  the  rank  of  a 
dwelling.  "  The  walls  were  constructed  of  ballast  stone  and 
the  face  was  covered  with  a  light-blue  plaster.  It  was  com- 
pleted in  the  most  substantial  manner.  Wesley's  Chapel,  as 
they  called  it,  bore,  upon  the  whole,  an  appearance  as  plain 
and  simple  as  the  lives  of  its  projectors." 

The  edifice  was  formally  opened  on  the  thirtieth  day  of 
October,  1768.  It  is  said  that  the  pulpit  from  which  Philip 
Embury  preached  on  that  occasion  was  made  by  himself,  who, 
like  the  Founder  of  Christianity,  was  a  carpenter.* 

*  It  is  a  notable  fact  that  Embury,  the  founder  of  Methodism  in  the  North,  and 
Strawbridge,  its  founder  in  the  South,  were  both,  according  to  published  researches, 
house-builders. 


CHAPTEE  YII. 

FROM   THE   OPENING   OF   WESLEY's  CHAPEL  IN  NEW  YORK  TO   THE 
APPOINTMENT   OF   PILMOOR   AND   BOARDMAN. 

There  is  no  evidence  which  invalidates  the  tradition  that 
Wesley's  Chapel  in  New  York  w^as  the  first  Methodist  Chapel 
in  America.  In  the  Methodist  Quarterly  Revieiv,  July,  1856, 
the  Eev.  Dr.  William  Hamilton  says  the  first  church  of  the 
American  Methodists  was  in  Maryland.  Of  this,  however,  he 
offers  no  proof.  Lednum,  in  his  "History  of  the  Rise  of 
Methodism  in  America,"  asserts  the  same,  but  fails  to  sup- 
port the  assertion  by  evidence.  Bishop  McTyeire  also  favors 
the  same  claim  in  his  "  History  of  Methodism." 

If  it  were  a  fact,  and  known,  that  the  first  Methodist  so- 
ciety in  Maryland  was  anterior  to  Embury's  society  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Hudson,  nothing  would  be  settled  thereby  con- 
cerning which  first  reared  a  church  edifice.  That  is  a  separate 
question  altogether. 

The  oldest  document  which  casts  any  light  upon  it  is  the 
Journal  of  the  Eev.  Joseph  Pilmoor.  He  was  in  Maryland 
in  June,  1772,  and  on  the  sixth  day  thereof  he  w^ent  to  the 
home  of  Eichard  Dallam,  w^hicli  he  describes  as  "  most  beau- 
tifully situated  on  a  branch  of  the  Chesapeake." 

The  Chesapeake  Bay  at  its  nearest  point  to  Pipe  Creek  is  a 
considerable  distance  from  it ;  and  it  is  said  by  Lee  and  others 
that  the  first  chapel  built  in  Strawbridge's  field  was  near 
Pipe  Creek,  but  in  reality,  as  w^e  shall  soon  see,  it  w^as  close 
to  Sam's  Creek.  It  is  doubtful  whether  there  is  now  a  possi- 
bility of  determining  the  true  site  of  that  primitive  edifice. 
It  was  early  taken  down  or  removed,  and  was  appropriated 
to  the  uses  of  a  bam.  With  the  exception  of  that  contained 
in  a  short  manuscript  found  among  the  papers  of  the  late  Dr. 


i 


f 


f 


PILMOOR'S   KIDE  TO   A  NEW   CHAPEL  IN  MARYLAND      91 

Robert  Emory,  I  have  not  discovered  any  description  of  the 
house  written  by  anyone,  since  Asbury,  who  had  seen  it  where 
it  originally  stood.     Its  size  was  twenty  by  twenty  feet. 

The  home  of  Dallam,  to  which  Pilmoor  went  on  Satur- 
day, June  6,  1772,  in  company  with  Eobert  Williams,  was, 
however,  not  located  upon  the   Chesapeake,  but   "  upon   a 
branch   of   the  Chesapeake."     Therefore  it  may  have  been 
nearer  to  "  the  Log  Meeting-House,"  by  several  miles  than 
was  any  point  directly  upon  the  bay.     At  any  rate,  Pilmoor 
passed  the  Saturday  night  at  Richard  Dallam's,  and  the  next 
day  he  went  to  "  a  new  chapel,"  which  evidently  was  a  con- 
siderable distance  from  the  house  where  he  slept,  for  he  wrote : 
"  Sunday,  June  7.— Rose  early  in  the  morning  finely  refreshed 
with  balmy  sleep  and  happy  in  the  favor  of  God.    After  break- 
fast we  set  off  for  the  new  chapel,  which  a  number  of  planters 
have  lately  built  for  the  Methodists,  where  we  found  a  large 
congregation  waiting  for  us."     Two  or  three  things  should 
here  be  noticed :  First,  Pilmoor,  on  this  particular  morning, 
rose  early.     Wesley's  preachers  are  understood  to  have  been 
early  risers  ;  and  certainly  Pilmoor  was  such,  for  he  was  ac- 
customed frequently  to  preach  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
as  we  shall  soon  see;  but  his  having  in  this  instance  men- 
tioned the  fact  of  his  early  awakening  indicates  that  it  was 
especially  earlv,  or,  why  should  he  have  noted  it  ?   Second, 
-  After  breakfast "  he  "  set  off."     It  is  inferred  that  it  was  an 
early  breakfast,  as  he  rose  so  early.    Third,  The  congregation 
was  waiting  for  him.     The  time  of  his  arrival  is  not  indicated 
and  we  do  not  know  at  what  hour  of  the  day  it  was  the  custom 
then  to  begin  Methodist  meetings  in  Maryland,  but  a  little 
later  in  the  Southern  country,  the  Methodists  began  their 
worship  at  noon.     In  November,  1784,  Dr.  Coke  wrote  in  the 
portion  of  his  Journal  which  was  published  in  the  Philadel- 
phia Arminian  Magazine,  that  the  Methodists  observed  as  the 
"  general  time  of  preaching  throughout  the  whole  continent, 
except  the  large  towns,  the  middle  of   the  day,  even  upon 
week  -  days."     If  the  appointed  hour  of  the  service  was  at 
or  approximate  to  noon,  and  the  audience  had  gathered  be- 
fore Pilmoor's  arrival,  it  clearly  follows  that  he  rode  many 


92 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


THE  FIRST  CHAPEL   IN  MARYLAND 


93 


miles  before  lie  came  to  the  chapel.  Apparently  a  Meth- 
odist preacher,  upon  a  good  horse,  might  have  reached  the 
famous  "  Log  Meeting-House  "  at  Sam's  Creek,  and  preached 
there  on  the  first  Sunday  in  June,  1772,  notwithstanding  he 
slept  the  preceding  night  at  Eichard  Dallam's  home  '*  on  a 
branch  of  the  Chesapeake." 

Moreover,  Pilmoor  says  this  chapel  was  "  new  "  and  also 
that  it  was  but  "  lately  built."  John  Street  Chapel  in  New 
York  had  then  been  occupied  by  the  society  three  years  and 
seven  months. 

At  the  time  Pilmoor  preached  at  the  "  new  chapel,"  there 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  more  than  one  Methodist 
preaching-house  in  Maryland.  Three  weeks  subsequently 
he  Avas  at  a  "  new  chapel "  in  the  same  province,  but  it  seems 
likely  it  was  the  one  to  which  he  w^ent  from  Mr.  Dal- 
lam's house  on  June  7th.  This  second  time  he  appears  to 
have  gone  from  the  region  of  Deer  Creek,  and  this  time  also 
he  started  "early."  Under  the  date  of  June  28,  1772,  he 
writes  :  "  We  set  off  early  in  the  morning  for  a  new  chapel, 
where  we  found  four  times  as  many  people  as  it  would  con- 
tain." This  early  start  indicates  that  he  travelled  a  good 
many  miles  before  he  came  to  his  destination.  I  think  the 
inference  is  fair  that  the  "  new  chapel "  which  he  visited  June 
7th,  was  identical  with  the  one  for  which  he  set  out  "  early 
in  the  morning  "  of  June  28th,  exactly  three  weeks  later.  If 
the  chapel  to  which  he  went  on  both  occasions  was  the  same, 
then  it  is  the  only  one  mentioned  by  him  as  then  standing  in 
Maryland.  It  is  reasonable,  therefore,  to  suppose  that  it  was 
the  first  Methodist  house  of  w^orship  which  was  built  in  the 
province.  If  so,  it  was  then  "  new  "  and  "  lately  built ;"  and 
therefore  w^as  of  later  construction  than  Wesley's  Chapel  in 
New  York.  Should  it,  however,  be  claimed  that  the  chapel 
where  Pilmoor  preached  on  June  28, 1772,  was  not  the  chapel 
to  which  he  went  from  Kichard  Dallam's  on  the  7th  of 
the  same  month,  no  point  would  be  made  for  the  antecedence 
of  the  ^iHrvland  sanctuary  ;  for  if  at  the  first  visit  of  Pilmoor 
to  Maryland  there  were  two  chapels  within  its  borders  then 
both  were  "  neiv'' 


] 


Above  two  years  prior  to  this  time  he  first  saw  the  preach- 
ing-house in  New  York,  yet  in  his  Journal  he  did  not  designate 
it  as  *'  new,"  though  it  was  opened  for  worship  by  Embury 
less  than  seventeen  months  before  Pilmoor  first  looked  upon 
it.  But  the  chapel  in  Maryland,  to  which  he  went  June  7, 
1772,  was,  he  says,  "  the  we?^  chapel  which  a  number  of  planters 
have  lately  built  for  the  Methodists."  The  one  to  which  he 
went  on  the  28th  of  the  same  month  was  also,  he  asserts  "a 
jieio  chapel."  If,  as  I  suppose,  they  were  the  same,  he  at 
each  visit  described  it  as  "  new."  If  they  were  not  the  same 
then  hotli  w^ere  "  neio,''  and  as  Pilmoor  mentions  no  other 
Methodist  house  of  worship  in  Maryland,  it  is  but  just  to  as- 
sume that  the  "  new  "  chapel  or  chapels  then  there  did  not 
precede  the  edifice  in  John  Street,  New^  York,  which  was 
well  advanced  in  its  fourth  year. 

Six  months,  lacking  one  day,  after  Pilmoor's  first  visit  to 
the  "new  chapel"  Asbury  was  at  a  "preaching-house"  in 
Maryland.  Pilmoor  was  there  in  w^arm,  Asbury  in  cold, 
weather,  but  the  place  in  each  instance  probably  an  as  the  same. 
Asbury  mentions  no  other  "preaching-house"  in  Maryland  at 
that  time.  Of  this  one  in  his  Journal  on  Lord's  day,  Decem- 
ber 6,  1772,  he  says  :  "  Went  about  five  miles  to  preach  in 
our  first  preaching-house.  The  house  liad  no  windows  or 
doors ;  the  weather  was  very  cold,  so  that  my  heart  pitied  the 
people  when  I  saw  them  so  exposed.  Putting  a  handkerchief 
over  my  head  I  preached,  and  after  an  hour's  intermission — 
the  people  w^aiting  all  the  time  in  the  cold— I  preached  again.' 

This  chapel  Asbury  described  as  "  our  first  preaching- 
house."  There  is  no  warrant  for  assuming  that  by  this  phrase 
he  meant  that  it  was  the  first  "preaching-house"  in  Airu  rica. 
Kather,  as  he  was  then  in  Maryland,  probably  his  design  was 
to  speak  of  it  as  the  first  Methodist  house  of  worship  which 
was  built  in  that  province.  Should  it  be  said  the  phrase 
"  our  first  preaching-house  "  implied  a  second  house,  it  may 
be  replied  that  in  the  half  year  which  had  passed  since  Pil- 
moor first  visited  the  new  chapel  another  edifice  might,  possi- 
bly, have  been  raised. 

The  Eev.  Dr.  Robert  Emory,  who  was  president  of  Dick- 


94 


THE  WESLEYAN  MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


inson  College  and  the  author  of  a  "History  of  the  Disci- 
pline," also  was  an  explorer  of  data  relating  to  the  lise  and 
progi-ess  of  Methodism  in  Maryland.     He  was  familiar  with 
the  locality  and  its  people.     He  collected  valuable  documents 
relating  to  the  early  history  of  the  Wesleyan  movement  in 
that  State.     He  had  gathered  much  material  for  the  Life  of 
Bishop  Asbury,  which  he  began  but  did  not  complete.     One 
of  the  manuscript  documents  which  he  left  among  his  papers 
was  a  description  of  the  Log  Meeting-House,  apparently  fur- 
nished by  one  who  well  remembered  it.     Dr.  Emory  gave  his 
attestation  to  the    authenticity  of  this   account   of  the  first 
Methodist  house  of  worship  in  Maryland  by  incorporating  its 
facts  into  his  unfinished  "  Life  of  Asbury."     I  will  now  re- 
produce the  account  from  the  original  manuscript,  still  ex- 
tant :  "  The  old  log-building  occupied  by  Mr.  Strawbridge  as 
a  preaching-house  stood  at  the  head  of  a  small  drain  that 
runs  into  Sam's  Creek  in  about  the  distance  of  half  a  mile. 
It  is  said  in  Wesley's  Life,  Pipe  Creek,  but  it  is  Sam's  Creek. 
It  was  built  of  hewed  logs,  the  whole  raised  and  covered. 
Sleepers  were  put  in,  which  were  the  only  seats  belonging  to 
it.     The  doors  and  windows  were   cut  out  and  faced,  but 
there  was  no  pulpit.     There  a  society  was  raised.     The  first 
members  there,  as  far  as  I  know,  were  John  Evans,  Andrew 
Poulson,  Benjamin  Marcarel,  and  John  England."      Signed 

"L.  B."  or  "Z.  B." 

The  writer  of  this  description  perhaps  was  Mrs.  Bennett, 
a  daughter  of  "  John  Evans,  one  of  Strawbridge's  first  con- 
verts," who  was  yet  living  when,  in  1856,  Dr.  Hamilton  pub- 
lished his  article  on  Early  Methodism  in  Maryland,  and  she 
had  then  attained  to  the  great  age  of  eighty-eight. 

The  above  description  accords  with  the  statement  made  by 
Asbury,  namely,  that  "  our  first  preaching-house  "  in  Mary- 
land, where  he  delivered  two  sermons  in  the  cold  of  Decem- 
ber, 1772,  "  had  no  windows  or  doors." 

Dr.  Emory  says  in  a  manuscript  he  left  that  the  old  Log 
Meeting-House  "  was  certainly  not  built  later  than  1772,  and 
probably  not  before." 

There  was  a  circumstance  mentioned  by  Asbury,  and  two 


WAS   IT  THE  LOG  MEETING-HOUSE? 


95 


similar  ones  which  Pilmoor  noted  when  he  was  at  the  '*new 
chapel,"  namely,  that  after  an  hour's  intermission,  the  people 
meanwhile  remaining,  a  second  sermon  was  preached.  Pil- 
moor shall  describe  both  the  occasions  of  his  ministry  at  the 
new  chapel  in  the  month  of  June,  1772. 

On  June  7th  he  says :  ''  Rose  early  m  the  morning  finely 
refreshed  with  balmy  sleep  and  happy  in  the  favor  of  God. 
After  breakfast  we  set  off  for  the  new  chapel,  which  a  number 
of  planters  have  lately  built  for  the  Methodists,  where  we 
found  a  fine  congregation  waiting  for  us.  I  retired  in  the 
woods  a  few  moments  for  secret  prayer  and  then  our  wor- 
ship began.  After  the  first  service  ivas  over  tve  ivaited  about 
an  hour  and  then  began  aijain,  Mr.  Williams  preached  and 
the  people  were  deeply  affected."  At  his  next  visit  to 
what  I  assume  was  the  same  chapel,  and  which  was  three 
weeks  later,  namely,  June  28,  1772,  Pilmoor  says :  "  We  set 
off  early  in  the  morning  for  a  new  chapel,  where  we  found 
four  times  as  many  people  as  it  would  contain.  So  they 
made  me  a  place  in  the  wood,  and  I  stood  beneath  the 
spreading  branches  of  a  stately  oak,  and  called  the  multi- 
tude to  the  gospel  Bethesda— the  Spiritual  House  of  Mercy, 
where  all  that  come  may  obtain  a  perfect  cure  of  all  their 
diseases.  After  lyreacldng  teas  over  the  jjeojyle  ivere  umcilling 
to  go  aivay,  so  I  told  them  if  they  ivould  loait  till  I  had  got  a 
little  refreshment  I  ivould  give  them  another  discourse  :  so  I 
stepped  to  a  cottage  at  a  small  distance  and  got  a  dish  of 
tea,  and  then  returned  to  the  wood,  where  I  found  most  of 
the  people  waiting.  I  j^reached  again,  and  was  particularly 
owned  and  blessed  of  God."  Now  the  fact  of  the  people 
w^aiting  until  they  heard  a  second  sermon  on  both  the  oc- 
casions when  Pilmoor  preached  at  "  the  new  chapel  "  in  the 
summer  of  1772,  and  the  further  circumstance  of  their  staying 
in  the  cold  at  *'  our  first  preaching-house  "  when  Asbury  was 
there  in  the  following  winter  until,  after  the  lapse  of  an  hour, 
he  preached  to  them  again,  apparently  support  the  presump- 
tion that  all  those  events  occun-ed  at  the  same  place,  which 
could  hardly  have  been  any  other  than  ''the  Log  Meeting- 
House."     We  conclude  that  as  it  was  then  but  "lately  built," 


96 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


it  did  not  precede  the  erection  of  the  John  Street  Chapel  in 
the  city  of  New  York. 

This  conclusion  accords  Avith  the  earliest  traditions. 
Jesse  Lee,  the  careful  historian,  who  preached  in  Maryland 
in  1787,  says :  "  The  first  Methodist  meeting-house  that 
was  built  in  the  United  States  was  that  in  New  York."  " 
Ezekiel  Cooper,  who  was  reared  in  Maryland,  and  who 
began  his  ministry  there  in  178-1 ;  who  preached  much 
within  its  borders  in  the  early  times ;  who  was  personally 
acquainted  with  many  of  the  primitive  preachers  who  trav- 
elled there,  and  who  was  stationed  in  New  York  City  twenty- 
six  years  after  the  John  Street  Church  was  built ;  recorded, 
as  we  have  seen,  with  his  own  hand,  upon  the  manu- 
script of  Peter  Parks's  "  True  Statement"  the  declaration 
that  the  New  Y^ork  Methodists  "  proceeded  to  build  the  first 
Methodist  preaching-house  in  America  where  the  present 
John  Street  Church  now  stands."  In  his  work  on  Asbury, 
Cooper  says  the  New  York  "  society  increased  in  numbers,  in 
friends,  and  in  strength,  so  that  in  the  year  1768  they  began 
to  build  the  first  Methodist  chapel  in  America." 

Dr.  Coke  came  hither  several  times  and  labored  exten- 
sively in  this  country  prior  to  1792,  when  he  and  Mr.  Moore 
published  their  Life  of  Wesley."  Therein  it  is  declared 
(page  419)  that  the  "  chapel  in  New  York  was  the  first  chapel 
in  Mr.  Wesley's  connection  in  America." 

The  Kev.  Henry  Smith  was  a  native  of  Frederick  County, 
MJ.,  and  familiar  with  the  locality  of  Strawbridge's  labors 
and  Avith  people  who  well  knew  him.  Smith  was  licensed  to 
preach  in  Frederick  circuit  in  1793.  In  his  "  Eecollections 
and  Reflections  of  an  Old  Itinerant"  (p.  205),  he  says  :  "In 
the  summer  of  1820  I  rode  some  miles  in  company  with 
Bishop  McKendree  to  see  the  place  where  a  meeting-house 
had  been  built  for  Mr.  Strawbridge.  Some  of  the  logs  were 
still  there  and  sound.  This  was  the  first  meeting-house  in 
Maryland  and  the  second  in  America."  Thus  it  is  established 
by  primitive  testimony  that  John  Street  Chapel  was  antece- 
dent to  the  Log  Meeting-House. 

*  History  of  the  Methodists,  p.  25. 


METHODISM   IN   PHILADELPHIA 


97 


The  assumption  that  the  new  chapel  to  which  Pilmoor 
went  in  June,  1772,  was  the  Log  Meeting-House  of  Straw- 
bridge  has  received  possible  corroboration  in  an  article  on 
"  Methodist  Shrines  in  Maryland,"  by  the  Eev.  Lucien  Clark, 
D.D.,  published  in  the  New  York  Christian  Advocate,  Sep- 
tember 6,  1894.  Dr.  Clark,  in  speaking  of  his  recent  visit  to 
the  Strawbridge  neighborhood,  says :  "A  majestic  oak  un- 
der which  Mr.  Strawbridge  frequently  preached  is  pointed 
out.  It  sends  out  its  vigorous  branches  in  every  direction, 
affording  an  ample  shade  under  which  two  hundred  persons 
might  assemble."  Pilmoor  says  there  w^ere  "  four  times  as 
many  people  "  on  June  28,  1772,  at  the  new  chapel  "  as  it 
would  contain.  So  they  made  me  a  place  in  the  wood,  and  I 
stood  beneath  the  spreading  branches  of  a  stately  oak,  and 
called  the  people  to  the  gospel  Bethesda." 

After  the  dedication  of  the  preaching-house  in  New  York 
by  Embury,  October  30, 17G8,  he  continued  to  preach  and  oth- 
erwise to  serve  the  society  until  the  first  English  preachers, 
regularly  sent  hither  by  Mr.  Wesley,  arrived.  We  get  but  few 
glimpses  of  the  work  there  from  the  date  of  the  opening  of 
the  chapel  until  Pilmoor  began  his  first  term  of  service  in 
the  latter  end  of  March,  1770. 

Captain  Webb  was  a  bold  and  aggressive  soldier  of 
Christ.  We  have  seen  that  soon  after  he  joined  Embury  in 
New  York  City  he  began  to  preach  on  Long  Island.  Then  we 
find  him  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  founded  Methodism.  He 
preached  in  a  sail-loft  "  near  the  drawbridge  which  then  spanned 
Dock  Creek  at  Front  Street  on  the  Delaware  Eiver."  " 

The  dates  of  Webb's  first  visits  to  Philadelphia  are  ob- 
scure. In  a  biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  John  Hood,  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  F.  Sargeant,  which  was  printed  in  the 
New  York  Christian  Advocate,  in  March,  1829,  it  is  said  that 
in  1767  or  1768  Webb  formed  the  first  class  in  Philadelphia, 
of  which  Hood  was  a  member.  Thomas  Bell,  a  Methodist 
mechanic,  in  a  letter  dated  May  13,  1769,  and  published 
m  the  London  Arminian  Magazine,  in  1807  (pages  45,  46), 
says   the   Methodists   of    New   York   obtained   part   of    the 

*  Lednum  :  Rise  of  Methodism,  p,  40. 


98 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


money  for  their  preaeliing-liouse  in  Pliiladelpliia.     Bell  him- 
self, as  the  subscription  Hst  shows,  contributed  to  the  build- 
ing fund,  and  he  also  says  he  worked  upon  the  structure 
six  days.     "  The  Old  Book  "  also  attests  that  contributions 
for  the   edifice   were   received   from    Philadelphia   through 
Webb  at  a  later  date.     If,  in  1768,  he  obtained  money  in  that 
city  for  the  New  York  chapel,  it  is  pretty  clear  there  were 
Methodists  in  Philadelphia  in  that  year,  and  probably  earHer. 
Dr.  Wrangle,  from  Sweden,  preached  for  some  time  m 
Philadelphia.''  In  his  memoir  of  Hood,  Sargeant  says  that 
about  the  time  Webb  appeared  there  Wrangle  was  recalled 
by  his  government.     On  his  return  to  Sweden  lie  met  Mr. 
Wesley  In  England.      Wesley  says  he  dined  with  Wrangle, 
October   14,    1768,    and   adds:    "His   heart   seemed   to   be 
greatly  united  to  the  American  Christians,  and  he  strongly 
pleaded  for  our  sending  some  of  our  preachers  to  help  them." 
Four  days  later  Wesley,  in  his  Journal,  says  :  "  Dr.  Wrangle 
preached  iii  the  new  room  to  a  crowded  audience,  and  gave 
general  satisfaction  by  the  simplicity  and  life  which  accom- 
panied his  sound  doctrine."  ^ 

Sargeant  says  Hood  applied  to  Dr.  Wrangle  for  religious 
counsel,  and  was  advised  by  him  to  make  an  associate  of 
a  young  man  named  Lambert  Wilmer,  who  was  an  attend- 
ant of  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church,  in  Philadelphia.  Hood 
took  Wrangle's  advice,  and  the  two  young  men  formed  a 
close  friendshii),  ^vliich  lasted  throughout  their  lives.  By 
the  request  of  both  they  were  interred  in  the  same  grave. 
Sarcreant  further  says  that  Wrangle  wrote  to  Hood,  Wilmer, 
and'^other  of  his  pious  friends  in  Philadelphia,  in  high  com- 
mendation of  Mr.  Wesley  and  his  economy,  and  sent  them 
some  of  Wesley's  writings  ;  and  also  advised  them  to  join  the 
Methodists,  should  a  society  be  formed  in  Philadelphia. 

Accordino;  to  these  data.  Dr.  Wrangle  seems  not  to  have 
known  of  a  Methodist  society  m  Philadelphia  when  he  re- 
moved therefrom ;  and,  as  he  was  with  Wesley  in  England 
in  the  middle  of  October,  1768,  Webb  probably  did  not 
formally  organize  Methodism  in  Philadelphia  prior  to  that 
year.     Leanum  dates  its  origin  there  in  the  year  1768. 


WILMER   AND   HOOD   IN   PHILADELPHIA 


99 


Its  beginning  in  Philadelphia,  as  in  New  York,  was  small. 
The  first  society  was  composed  of  only  seven  members. 
Among  these  were  Hood  and  Wilmer.  Both  continued 
there  in  the  fellowship  of  Methodism  for  over  a  half-cen- 
tury. They  witnessed  its  early  struggles  and  also  its  vic- 
torious progress  over  the  land.  When  they  joined  the  Meth- 
odists probably  there  were  fewer  than  two  hundred  members 
in  the  American  provinces.  When  Hood  was  laid  with  Wil- 
mer in  their  common  grave,  the  Wesleyan  movement  had 
become  a  powerful  evangelical  force,  whose  ecclesiastical  lines 
extended  to  the  frontiers  of  the  republic,  and  embraced  nearly 
a  half-million  of  communicants. 

Wilmer  and  Hood  were  worthy  representatives  of  the 
cause  to  which  they  gave  their  youthful  ardor  and  their  ma- 
ture strength.  Hood,  especially,  was  a  notable  character. 
Of  most  amiable  temper  and  truly  devout,  he  enjoyed  the 
confidence  and  esteem  of  the  young  society  in  Philadelphia 
to  such  a  degree  that,  in  1770,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years, 
he  was  appointed  Class  Leader.  For  nearly  threescore 
years  he  continued  in  that  useful  ofiice.  James  Emerson 
was  the  first  leader  of  the  Philadelphia  society.  Hood  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  Eev.  Caleb  B.  Pedicord,  in  1783, 
and  was  an  acceptable  and  useful  local  preacher.  The  cele- 
brated Dr.  Rush,  according  to  Sargeant,  once  told  the  lat- 
ter "  he  heard  Hood  preach  on  '  Quench  not  the  Spirit,'  and 
thought  it  a  much  better  discourse  than  many  he  had  heard 
from  college  -  bred  ministers  ;  that  he  appeared  to  under- 
stand well  the  figure  used  by  the  apostle,  and  illustrated 
and  enforced  it  with  fine  effect."  He  preached  abroad  in 
the  region  of  Philadelphia,  and  was  successful  in  originating 
a  number  of  societies. 

Hood  had  a  good  voice,  and  was  a  leader  of  song  in  the 
sanctuary.  He  sang  with  the  spirit  and  understanding,  and 
his  face  glowed  with  joy  as  he  bore  the  people  with  him  in 
melodious  worship.  His  end  was  triumphant.  He  rejoiced 
in  his  Redeemer.  "  Oh,  He  is  my  life  and  my  all,"  he  ex- 
claimed. ''  1  feel  Him  in  my  heart."  He  said  :  "  How  I 
long  to  be  with  Him.     Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly." 


* 


100 


THE    WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN    AMEKICA 


FRUITS   OF   STRAWBRIDGE  S   MINISTRY 


101 


The  last  word  caught  from  the  lips  of  this  primitive  Meth- 
odist as  he  expired  was  "  Heaven  !  "  He  departed  February 
24,  1829,  in  his  eightieth  year. 

From  the  formation  of  the  society  until  the  arrival  of  Pil- 
moor  and  Boardman,  in  the  fall  of  1769,  we  are  without  infor- 
mation as  to  the  labors  of  Webb  in  Philadelphia.  In  a  letter 
he  there  wrote  to  Mr.  Wesley,  October  31,  1769,  Pilmoor 
says:  "  We  were  not  a  little  surprised  to  find  Captain  Webb 
in  town,  aiiil  a  society  of  about  a  hundred  members,  who 
desire  to  be  in  close  connection  with  you."  This  indicates 
that  after  planting  the  Wesleyan  vine  in  "  the  City  of  Broth- 
erly Love,"  Webb  did  not  cease  carefully  and  efficiently  to 
nourish  it. 

Of  the  work  of  Strawbridge  in  Maryland  at  this  period 
we  get  only  a  glimpse  or  two.  Webb  had  extended  his  work 
into  Delaware.  He  came  thence  to  Pilmoor,  in  Philadel- 
phia, in  the  fall  of  1769,  as  a  bearer  of  thrilling  news.  On 
November  4th  of  this  year,  Pilmoor  says  :  "  Captain  Webb 
came  on  from  Wilmington,  where  he  had  been  for  a  few  days 
on  a  visit,  and  brought  us  tidings  that  Jesus  the  Great  Shep- 
herd had  blessed  his  labors  in  the  gospel  and  made  them 
successful  in  turning  men  from  darkness  imto  light  and  from 
the  power  of  Satan  unto  God.  The  work  of  God  begun  by 
him  and  Mr.  Strawbridge,  a  local  preacher  from  Ireland,  soon 
spread  through  the  greater  part  of  Baltimore  County,  and 
several  himdreds  of  people  were  brought  to  repentance  and 
turned  unto  the  Lord."  A  fair  interpretation  of  this  passage 
would  warrant  the  conclusion  that  Captain  Webb  was  at  work 
with  Strawbridge  in  Maryland  at  or  near  the  beginning  of 
the  movement  there.  I  have  found  no  trace  elsewhere  of  the 
presence  of  Webb  in  western  Maryland  at  so  remote  a  date. 
Yet  Pilmoor's  statement,  apparently  made  on  Webb's  author- 
ity, indicates  that  the  ardent  itinerating  soldier  had  found 
the  Maryland  pioneer  and  united  with  him  in  gospel  labors. 
The  fact  that  in  the  first  month  of  1770  Strawbridge  preached 
in  Pliil;'jh'l]>liia,  is  a  corroborative  circumstance. 

According  to  Pilmoor  there  were  converts  in  Maryland 
at  least  as  early  as  1768.     In  a  reference  to  the  appeal  from 


I 


f 


New  York  for  laborers,  which,  as  he  states,  was  laid  before 
the  Wesleyan  Conference  at  Bristol  in  that  year,  he  mentions 
the  work  of  Strawbridge.  He  says  :  "  These  "—that  is,  the 
Methodists  in  New  York — "  together  with  a  few  people  in 
Maryland  who  had  lately  been  awakened  under  the  ministry 
of  Robert  Strawbridge,  sent  a  pressing  call  to  the  British 
Conference  in  1768,  entreating  us  to  send  over  some  preach- 
ers to  help  them."  If,  as  Pilmoor  seems  to  say,  Webb  was 
associated  with  Strawbridge  at  the  beginning  of  the  Meth- 
odist movement  in  Marjdand,  which  "soon  spread  through 
the  greater  part  of  Baltimore  County,"  it  is  easy  to  account 
for  the  tidings  thereof  reaching  Wesley  in  1768.  Webb 
probably  personally  knew  Wesley,  and  it  is  known  that  he 
wrote  to  him  concerning  the  work  in  America.  In  1772  he 
stood  before  the  British  Conference  pleading  for  preachers 
for  this  land. 

Strawbridge,  in  this  period  of  his  career,  sowed  seed 
which  produced  a  valuable  harvest.  Dr.  Thomas  E.  Bond  was 
widely  and  favorably  known  for  a  generation  as  a  promoter 
of  Methodism.  For  vears,  near  to  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth  century,  he  wielded  potential  influence  as  the  adroit 
and  powerful  editor  of  the  New  York  Chrisfian  Advocafc. 
Dr.  Bond  has  borne  grateful  testimony  to  the  results  of 
Strawbridge's  ministry  in  Maryland.  In  the  Journal  he 
edited,  of  the  issue  of  July  10,  1844,  he  declared  that  his 
"  parents  were  both  among  the  first-fniits  of  Mr.  Straw- 
bridge's  labors;  a  man  to  whom  they  and  their  posterity 
have  been  so  much  indebted  as  an  instrument  of  God,  of 
such  substantial  good  to  them."  Richard  Owen,  the  first 
native  Methodist  preacher  of  Maryland,  and,  next  to  Edward 
Evans,  the  first  who  came  forth  in  the  American  ranks, 
though  AVatters  was  before  him  in  the  itinerancy,  Avas  also 
one  of  the  early  trophies  of  the  ministry  of  Strawbridge. 
Various  others,  through  his  early  labors  here,  were  brought 
into  the  Weslevan  fold  and  became  stanch  adherents  and 
efficient  propagators  of  Christianity,  as  taught  by  Methodism. 
But  it  is  impossible  to  trace  his  work  chronologically,  because 
of  the  obscuiity  in  which  it  is  enveloped. 


WILLIAMS'S   SIGNAL  WORK   AT  NORFOLK 


103 


CHAPTEE  yill. 

THE   AREIYAL   OF   ROBERT  WILLIAMS   AND   HIS   MINISTRY   IN 

AMERICA  IN   1769. 

The  first  Wesleyan  evangelist  who  came  to  the  assistance 
of  the  Methodists  in  this  country  was  Eobert  Williams.  The 
precise  time  of  his  coming  is  not  known,  but  it  was  as  early 
as  September,  1769,  at  least.  It  is  highly  probable  that  he 
reached  America  sometime  in  the  summer  of  that  year.  His 
arrival  was  an  opportune  event  for  the  struggling  "Wesleyan 
cause. 

Lee  does  not  say  at  which  American  port  Williams  landed, 
but  Stevens  asserts  that  it  was  the  port  of  New  York.  Thus 
he  conflicts  with  Lee,  who  says  that  "  as  soon  as  Mr.  Williams 
landed  he  went  to  New  York."  It  is  now  clear  that  Stevens 
erred  on  this  point. 

AVilliams  was  a  heroic  preacher,  and  from  the  day  of  his 
arrival  in  a  storm-bound  ship  at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  he  was  a 
dauntless,  tireless,  and  successful  laborer  in  the  American 
Wesleyan  field.  His  character  is  finely  indicated  by  what  he 
did  immediately  after  he  landed. 

Among  the  valuable  documents  found  among  the  papers 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Emory  is  a  manuscript  of  considera- 
ble age  which  contains  the  account  of  Williams's  first  night  in 
America.  He  related  the  story  himself  to  Mr.  Josias  Dallam, 
an  early  Methodist  of  Maryland,  whose  son.  Dr.  William  M. 
Dallam,  wrote  it  out  in  a  vivid  style. 

"  The  vessel  m  which  he  sailed  to  this  country,"  says  Dr. 
Dallam,  "  was  bound  to  Baltimore,  but  the  unfavorable  weather 
obliged  the  crew  to  put  into  Norfolk.  Mr.  Williams  was  an 
entire  stranger  there.  The  letters  he  had  brought  with  him 
were  all  addressed  to  persons  in  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore.  I 
Having  had  a  long  and  boisterous  passage,  and  been  much 


I 


confined  below,  he  left  the  vessel  soon  after  its  arrival  at  the 
wharf,  and  with  his  Bible  and  hymn-book  in  his  pocket  pro- 
ceeded up  the  main  street.     It  was  the  evening  hour.     He 
chanced  to  see  a  house  shut  up,  and  bearing  on  its  door  the 
familiar  words,  traced  in  chalk,  '  This  house  to  let.'     He  as- 
cended its  steps,  took  his  hymn-book  from  his  pocket  and 
began  to  sing.     This  attracted  the  attention  of  the  citizens, 
and  many,  as  they  passed  and  repassed,  stopped  to  listen. 
After  a  considerable  number  had  collected  he  knelt  down 
and  prayed  for  the  prosperity  of  Norfolk,  its  citizens,  and 
neighborhood.     On  rising  from  his  knees  he  informed  them 
whence  he  came,  of  his  object  in  visiting  America,  and  the 
circumstances  which  had  placed  him  a  stranger  in  their  town  ; 
and  asked  if  there  was  any  person  present  who  would  be 
hospitable  enough  to  give  him  a  night's  lodging.     A  lady 
came  forward  and  offered  to  take  him  home  with  her  in  her 
carriage.     She  lived  a  short  distance  in  the  country.     He  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  and  accompanied  her.     She  proved  to 
be  the  wife  of  a  respectable  sea-captain  who  was  then  absent 
on  a  distant  voyage.      She  entertained  Mr.   Williams  very 
kindly,  and  when  the  hour  for  retiring  to  rest  anived  he  re- 
quested permission  to  have  family  prayer.     The  household 
assembled,  and  Avhile  he  petitioned  a  throne  of  grace  in  their 
behalf,  his  hospitable  entertainer   was  convicted  and  con- 
verted. 

"  He  prayed  also  for  the  conversion  of  her  husband.  That 
same  night,  on  the  far-off  ocean,  the  captain  for  whom  he 
prayed  was  singularly  affected.  Having  retired  to  his  berth 
as  usual,  he  foimd  it  impossible  to  sleep,  and  his  restlessness 
and  uneasiness  so  increased  that  he  rose,  walked  the  deck, 
and  then  again  lay  down.  Sleep  still  forsook  his  eyelids,  and 
the  second  time  he  rose,  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  his  ship, 
and  unable  to  account  for  his  peculiar  feelings.  He  called  to 
the  mate  and  inquired  if  all  was  right.  He  was  answered  in 
the  affirmative.  It  was  a  calm  night  and  he  feared  his  vessel 
had  run  aground,  but  soon  discovered  that  such  apprehensions 
were  unfounded.  A  third  time  he  retired,  but  his  uneasiness 
and  distress  continued  to  increase.     At  last  he  fell  upon  his 


104 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN    AMERICA 


knees  and  began  to  pray  most  fervently.  God  vouchsafed  an 
answer  and  converted  his  soul.  The  circumstance  was  so  re- 
markable that  he  noted  it  in  his  log-book,  and  on  comparing 
dates  when  he  arrived  at  home,  he  discovered  that  it  occurred 
on  the  very  night  when  Mr.  Williams  had  offered  his  petitions 
for  him.  My  father  afterward  accidentally  became  acquainted 
with  the  captain,  and  heard  from  him  the  same  account  that 
Mr.  Williams  had  given  him." 

Thus  did  this  intrepid  evangelist  enter  upon  his  arduous 
but  glorious  career  in  the  New  AVorld. 

A  brief  record  in  "the  Old  Book"  of  a  payment  "  f or  a 
hat  for  Mr.  Williams,"  on  September  20,  1769,  shows  that  he 
had  then  been  in  New  York.  A  society  ticket  issued  there, 
bearing  the  signature  of  Robert  Williams,  and  dated  October 
1,  1709,  is  yet  extant  in  the  library  of  Drew  Theological 
Seminary.  His  ministry  in  the  city  no  doubt  was  an  inspi- 
ration and  a  joy  to  the  Wesleyans  there,  w^ho  were  urgently 
calling  to  Mr.  Wesley  for  preachers. 

We  are  told  by  Jesse  Lee  that  Williams  "  had  been  a 
local  preacher  in  England  and  received  a  permit  from  Mr. 
Wesley  to  preach  in  America  under  the  direction  of  the  reg- 
ular missionaries.  Mr.  Williams,  however,  w^as  not  sent  over 
by  Mr.  Wesley.  His  coming  to  America  was  partly  owing  to 
temporal  business,  and  withal,  feeling  a  particular  desire  to 
preach  the  gospel  in  America,  he  had  given  his  word  to  a 
Methodist  man  in  Ireland  that  if  he  (Mr.  Ashton)  would  come 
over  to  live  in  America  he  would  accompany  him  across  the 
Atlantic."  ^  Lee  further  states  that  on  his  arrival  Williams 
went  to  New  York ;  also  that  he  visited  Pilmoor  in  Philadel- 
phia, the  first  of  November,  1769,  and  then  went  to  Mary- 
land. 

The  accuracy  of  Lee  as  a  historian  is  herein  illustrated. 
Pilmoor.  in  his  Journal,  at  this  time  mentions  Williams's  visit 
to  Philadelphia,  and  his  statements  show  Lee  to  be  in  accord 
with  the  facts.  Under  date  of  November  1,  1769,  Pilmoor 
writes :  "  Mr.  Robert  Williams  called  on  me  on  his  wav  from 
New  York  to  Maryland.     He  came  over  to  America  about 

*  History  of  the  Methodists,  pp.  26-7. 


WILLIAMS   IN   EUROPE 


105 


business,  and  being  a  local  preacher  in  England,  Mr.  Wesley 
gave  him  a  license  to  preach  occasionally  under  the  direction 
of  the  regular  preachers."  As  Williams  was  personally  pres- 
ent with  Pilmoor,  and  at  this  time  preached  several  sermons  in 
Philadelphia,  w^e  infer  that  Pilmoor  derived  these  particulars 
directly  from  him.  Crook,  in  his  work  on  "Ireland  and  the 
Centenary  of  American  Methodism,"  says  Williams  was  a 
travelling  preacher  at  the  time  he  came  to  America.  Here 
then  is  a  conflict  of  authorities.  "The  truth  is,"  Crook 
says,  "  Williams  was  not  a  lay  evangelist,  but  an  accredited 
member  of  the  Irish  Conference.  He  was  taken  out  to  travel 
at  the  Conference  of  1766,  and  his  name  will  be  found  for  that 
year  among  the  appointments  as  follows  :  *  Northwest  (about 
Derry),  John  Johnston,  James  Morgan ;  Northeast  (about 
Belfast  and  Coleraine),  James  Rea,  Rohert  Williams.''  Under 
date  of  Friday,  April  3,  1767,  Wesley  writes  :  *  At  the  end 
of  Dromore  I  met  Robert  Williams,  who  showed  me  the  way 
to  Newry.'  In  1767  he  was  stationed  at  Castlebar,  amid  the 
wilds  of  Connaught,  with  William  Pennington.  At  the  Con- 
ference of  1768  he  stands  again  for  Castlebar  thus  :  '  Castle- 
bar, W.  Collins,  R.  W.' "  * 

Joseph  Pilmoor  knew  Robert  Williams  well,  and  so  also 
did  Jesse  Lee.  We  learn  from  the  biography  of  Lee  that 
"  W^illiams  was  the  first  of  the  Wesleyan  preachers  who  vis- 
ited that  part  of  Virginia  where  he  resided.  In  the  spring  of 
the  year  1774  Mr.  Williams  began  to  form  societies  in  the 
neighborhood.  It  was  then  that  Mr.  Lee  united  himself  to 
the  society  of  the  Methodists."  t  Lee  himself  in  the  preface 
to  his  History  says  that  he  became  a  member  early  in  the 
spring  of  1774.  Thus  it  is  clear  that  he  had  opportunities 
to  gather  facts  concerning  Williams's  history.  Ashton,  with 
whom  he  crossed  the  Atlantic,  was  from  Ireland,  which  in- 
dicates that  Williams  had  been  in  that  country.  Besides 
he  possibly  had  desisted  from  travelling  a  short  time  be- 
fore he  emigrated  to  America.  "Mr.  Williams  was  an  Eng- 
lishman, but  not  a  travelling  preacher  at   that   time,''  says 

*  Ireland  and  the  Centenary  of  American  Methodism,  pp.  137-8. 
t  Thrift's  Memoirs  of  Lee,  pp.  11-12. 


106 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


Lee.  He,  however,  may  have  travelled  before  "  that  time.'' 
Pilmoor  says  Williams  was  "  a  local  preacher  in  England ;  " 
and  also  that  Wesley  ''gave  him  a  license  to  preach  occa- 
sionally in  America."  Yet  before  this  he  may  have  been 
a  travelling  preacher,  and  retui-ned  to  the  local  ranks.  Thus 
the  apparent  conflict  between  Pilmoor  and  Lee  on  the  one 
side  ;  and  Crook  on  the  other,  respecting  Williams's  minis- 
terial status  in  Europe,  might  possibly  be  reconciled  without 
invalidating  tbt  statements  of  either,  if  all  the  relevant  facts 
could  be  brought  into  view. 

Concerning  Williams's  emigration  to  this  country,  Jesse 
Lee,  in  his  "History  of  the  Methodists"  (page  7),  gives 
the  following  account :  "  Mr.  Williams  was  an  Englishman, 
buL  not  a  travelling  preacher  at  that  time.  At  length  he 
heard  that  Mr.  Ashton  had  embarked  for  America,  and  ac- 
cording to  his  promise  he  hurried  down  to  the  town  near 
where  the  ship  lay,  sold  his  horse  to  pay  his  debts,  and 
taking  his  saddle-bags  on  his  arm  set  off  for  the  ship  with  a 
loaf  of  bread  and  a  bottle  of  milk,  and  no  money  to  pay  his 
passage.  His  good  friend  Ashton  provided  for  him  and  they 
came  over  together.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Williams  landed  he 
went  to  New  York,  where  he  preached  in  Wesley's  chapel 
before  either  of  the  other  itinerant  preachers  came  to  that 
city.  Although  Mr.  AYilliams  had  come  to  this  country  of 
his  own  accord,  the  preachers  and  people  encouraged  him  in 
his  labors  in  spreading  the  gospel.  On  the  first  of  Novem- 
ber he  visited  Mr.  Pilmoor  in  Philadelphia,  and  then  went  on 
to  Maryland."  He  preached  his  last  sermon  for  the  time  in 
Philadelphia,  and  set  off  for  Maryland,  November  6,  1769. 
Pilmoor  says  he  then  w^as  very  sincere  and  zealous. 

We  shall  meet  ^h.  Williams  frequently  in  the  course  of 
our  narrative.  We  now  approach  an  auspicious  epoch  in  the 
progress  of  the  young  movement  in  America,  the  appoint- 
ment by  the  Pev.  John  Wesley  of  two  itinerant  preachers  of 
the  English  Conference  to  this  most  fruitful  field  of  the  great 
spiritual  and  moral  reformation  called  Methodism. 


SECOND  PERIOD. 

From  the  Appointment  of  Wesley's  First  Mis- 
sionaries TO  America  to  the  Close  of  the  First 
American  Conference. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  appointment   AND   ARRIYAL  OF   BOARDMAN   AND   PILMOOR. 

A  RELIGIOUS  movement  which  began  in  weakness  and  ob- 
scurity but  rapidly  advanced  to  imposing  magnitude,  affect- 
ing in  its  progress  the  spiritual  destinies  of  millions,  and  pro- 
moting the  moral,  social,  political,  and  intellectual  welfare  of 
the  greatest  republic  of  the  world,  is  an  attractive  subject  for 
studious  contemplation. 

The  Wesleyan  Reformation  which  stirred  England  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  was  destined  to  find  a  larger  scope  and 
to'^win  its  greatest  triumphs  in  the  western  hemisphere. 
Borne  across  the  ocean  by  an  emigrant  ship,  it  was  planted 
by  a  mechanic,  who  also  had  been  a  schoolmaster,  as  a  frail, 
diminutive  tree  on  the  American  shore.  It  so  floui'ished  that 
its  luxuriant  branches  soon  cast  a  benignant  shadow  over  the 
territory  of  the  Federal  Union.  Its  roots  have  pierced  the 
shores  of  distant  isles  and  continents ;  its  trunk  has  grown 
lofty  and  massive,  and  it  is  now  yielding  its  benign  fruitage 
and  its  leaves  of  healing  to  heathen  lands  and  to  many  nations. 

We  now  approach  a  period  when  the  Wesleyan  movement 
is  to  command  wider  recognition  and  to  have  a  larger  oppor- 
tunity in  America.  Of  it  and  its  founders  here  it  might 
justly  be  said,  according  to  St.  Paul  in  the  revised  version  : 
"  God  chose  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  that  he  might 
put  to  shame  them  that  are  wise  ;  and  God  chose  the  weak 


108 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


things  of  the  world  that  he  might  put  to  shame  the  things 
that  are  strong ;  and  the  base  things  of  the  av  orld  and  the 
things  that  are  despised  did  God  choose,  yea,  and  the  things 
that  are  not  to  bring  to  naught  the  things  that  are  that  no 
ilesh  should  glory  before  God." 

While,  in  September,  1769,  Eobert  Williams  was  minister- 
ing to  the  society  in  New  York,  the  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  un- 
der the  command  of  Captain  Sparks,  was  sweeping  westward 
over  the  Atlantic  bearing  two  Wesleyan  evangehsts  hither. 
The  report  of  the  work  on  these  shores  under  Embury, 
Strawbridge,  and  W^ebb  quickly  reached  England.  Samuel, 
son  of  Philip  Embury,  recorded  the  assertion  that  his  father 
not  only  built  the  preaching-house  in  New  York  but  that  he 
also  wrote  to  Mr.  Wesley  asking  him  to  send  preachers  there. 
Coke  and  Moore,  in  their  "  Life  of  Wesley,"  issued  in  1792, 
assert  that  Captain  Webb  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Wesley 
earnestly  importuning  him  to  send  missionaries  to  America. 
Wesley  could  not  resist  these  appeals.  Eichard  Boardman 
and  Joseph  Pilmoor  are  now  about  to  connect  their  names 
imperishably  with  the  fortunes  of  the  Wesleyan  section  of 
Christianity  in  the  New  World. 

The  condition  and  necessities  of  Methodism  in  New  York 
were  placed  before  Mr.  Wesley  by  Thomas  Taylor,  in  a  letter 
written  April  11,  1768.  "I  must,"  said  Taylor,  "importune 
your  assistance  not  only  in  my  own  behalf,  but  also  in  the 
name  of  the  whole  society.  We  want  an  able  and  experienced 
preacher ;  one  who  has  both  gifts  and  grace  necessary  for 
the  work.  God  has  not,  indeed,  despised  the  day  of  small 
things.  There  is  a  real  work  of  grace  begun  in  many  hearts 
by  the  preaching  of  Mr.  Webb  and  Mr.  Embury.  But  al- 
though they  are  both  useful  and  their  hearts  are  in  the  w^ork, 
they  want  many  qualifications  for  such  an  undertaking  and 
the  progress  of  the  gospel  here  depends  much  upon  the  qual- 
ifications of  the  preachers.  If  possible  we  must  have  a  man 
of  w^isdora,  of  sound  faith,  and  a  good  disciplinarian  —  one 
whose  heart  and  soul  are  in  the  work ;  and  I  doubt  not,  by 
the  goodness  of  God,  such  a  flame  would  soon  be  kindled  as 
would  never  stop  imtil  it  reached  the  great  South  Sea.     Dear 


THE  AMERICAN   CALL   REACHED   ENGLAND   IN  1768      109 


sir,  I  entreat  you,  for  the  good  of  thousands,  to  use  your  ut- 
most endeavors  to  send  one  over.  With  respect  to  money 
for  the  payment  of  the  preacher's  passage,  if  they  could  not 
procure  it  we  would  sell  our  coats  and  shirts  to  procure  it  for 
them.  I  most  earnestly  beg  an  interest  in  your  prayers,  and 
trust  you  and  many  of  our  brethren  will  not  forget  the  church 
in  this  wilderness." 

This  letter  was  written  above  four  months  prior  to  the 
assembling  of  the  Wesleyan  Conference  at  Bristol,  August 
16,  1768.  It  is  certain  that  the  importunate  appeal  for  help 
was  heard  by  that  body.  Pilmoor,  as  we  have  seen,  says 
the  New^  York  Wesley ans,  "  together  with  a  few  people  in 
Maryland  who  had  lately  been  awakened  under  the  ministry 
of  Robert  Strawbridge,  sent  a  pressing  call  to  the  British 
Conference  in  1768,  entreating "  that  some  preachers  should 
be  sent  to  them.  He  further  says  :  "  This  was  laid  before 
the  brethren  and  left  to  their  consideration  imtil  the  next 
Conference." 

None  of  the  historians  of  the  movement  except  Lock  wood 
have  referred  to  a  disclosure  to  the  British  Conference  in 
1768  of  the  needs  of  the  cause  on  this  side  of  the  ocean. 
They  do  not  intimate  that  the  appeal  for  laborers  reached 
that  body  until  1769.  Pilmoor,  however,  explicitly  asserts 
that  the  "pressing  call"  of  the  New  York  and  Maryland 
Methodists  was  heard  by  the  Conference  which  sat  in  Bris- 
tol, August  16-19,  1768.  Wesley  did  not  then  see  his  way 
clear  to  send  any  preachers  to  America.  Rather,  he  was 
moved  to  exclaim,  "  O  wdiat  can  we  do  for  more  laborers  ? 
We  can  only  cry  to  the  Lord  of  the  harvest."  *  Not  only 
were  the  claims  of  the  w^ork  at  home  urgent  but  it  was  not 
desirable  that  such  a  weighty  movement  should  be  under- 
taken without  calm  and  prayerful  forethought.  Not  having 
had  their  minds  previously  and  specially  turned  to  their 
beckoning  transatlantic  brethren,  probably  none  of  the  preach- 
ers were  ready  to  volunteer  for  the  mission.  The  subject  was 
left  for  them  to  ponder  until  the  ensuing  Conference. 

We  do  not  know  what  immediate  effect  was  produced 

*  Myles'  Chronological  History  of  the  People  called  Methodists,  p.  115.    London. 


110 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


upon  Eichard  Boardman  by  the  pleading  call  for  help  which 
came  from  over  the  Atlantic  to  the  Conference  of  1768.  Jo- 
seph Pilmoor,  however,  did  not  forget  the  Macedonian  cry. 
He  has  left  a  vivid  record  of  his  mental  exercises  following 
upon  the  introduction  to  the  Conference  of  the  American  call 
for  help.  His  field  of  labor  was  in  Wales,  and  "  during  that 
year,"  he  says,  "  which  I  spent  chiefly  in  Pembrokeshire,  I 
was  frequently  under  great  exercise  of  mind  respecting  the 
dear  Americans,  and  found  a  w^illingness  to  sacrifice  every- 
thing for  their  sakes." 

A  fortnight  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Conference  of 
1768,  at  which  his  mind  was  turned  toward  this  land,  he, 
having  fervent  longings  for  full  devotion  to  God,  made  a 
formal  and  written  covenant  of  consecration.  This  covenant 
he  signed  less  than  a  year  before  he  embarked  for  Philadel- 
phia. Probably  it  was  one  of  the  steps  which  brought  him 
hithei.  it  illustrates  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  man  who 
was  now  looking  tow^ard  a  possible  period  of  service  in  behalf 
of  the  young  Methodism  of  America.  It  was  made  in  Pem- 
broke, South  Wales,  and  is  as  follow^s  :  "  Saturday,  Septem- 
ber 3,  1768.  Being  deeply  affected  with  a  sense  of  the  good- 
ness of  God  to  my  soul  I  was  inclined  to  give  myself  up  in  a 
solemn  covenant  unto  God,  to  be  fully  and  forever  His. 

"  First.  I  do  this  day  give  up  and  devote  my  soul  to  Thee, 
O  my  God,  to  be  altogether  and  forever  thine.  I  submit  my- 
self to  Thy  yoke  and  wait  for  Thy  continual  guidance  in  all 
things.  Let  all  my  thoughts  be  pure  and  holy.  Let  all  my 
desires  center  in  Thee,  and  all  my  affections  be  placed  entire- 
ly upon  thee.  And  in  order  to  that  do  Thou,  O  my  God,  wean 
me  from  all  my  fondness  for  created  enjoyments,  and  let  me 
be  entirely  crucified  unto  the  w^orld  and  the  w^orld  unto  me. 

"  Secondly.  I  offer  up  my  body  to  be  forever  Thine. 
Therefore,  I  pray  that  Thou  wouldst  keep  me  from  all  pol- 
lution and  defilement,  and  keep  me  chaste  and  clean  as  a 
temple  for  Thee  ;  that  Thou  mayst  dwell  forever  in  my  heart 
and  be  glorified  by  my  body  and  soul  which  are  Thine.  And 
at  last  raise  me  up  from  the  dust  of  death  to  dwell  among 
Thy  sr\ints  in  Glory. 


pilmoor' S   EXERCISES   CONCERNING   AMERICA       111 

"  Thirdly.  I  hereby  promise  to  spend  all  my  time  in  Thy 
service  and  all  my  talents  to  Thy  glory  and  honor. 

"Joseph  Pilmoor. 

To  this  covenant  he  appended  the  following  statement : 
u  ;^^  ]3,_Tlie  covenant  mentioned  above  was  of  the  ut- 
most advantage  to  me  and  generally  kept  for  many  years. 
Gratia  Yalabit.     Blessed  be  God  for  Jesus  Christ,  my  wis- 
dom righteousness,  and  sanctification."  * 

In  this  frame  of  sacred  devotedness  Pilmoor's  inner  ear 
was  attent  to  the  silent  call  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     Nerved  by  a 
new  and  signed  dedication  of  his  body,  soul,  time,  and  tal- 
ents to  the  Lord,  he  was  courageous  to  dare  the  hardships  of 
a  missionary  service  in  a  new  and   distant  land.     "  I  was 
happy  enough  as  to  my  situation  and  connexions,"  he  says, 
"  and  met  with  the  utmost  encouragement  from  the  people 
and  from  the  preachers  ;  yet  I  could  not  be  satisfied  to  con- 
tinue in  Europe.     A  sense  of  duty  so  affected  my  mind,  and 
my  heart  was  drawn  out  with  such  longing  desires  for  the 
advancement  of  the  Kedeemer's  kingdom,  that  I  was  made 
perfectly  willing  to  forsake  my  kindred  and  native  land,  with 
all  that  was  most  near  and  dear  to  me  on  earth,  that  I  might 
spread  abroad  the  honors  of  His  glorious  Name.     But  being 
afraid  lest  I  should  be  mistaken  and  follow  my  own  will  and 
inclinations  rather  than  the  spirit  and  the  call  of  God,  I  re- 
solved to  mention  it  to  Mr.  Wesley  and  the  preachers  in  Con- 
ference that  I  might  have  their  judgment  and  advice  m  a 
matter  of  such  importance.     Accordingly,  when  the  proposals 
for  sending  missionaries  to  America  were  mentioned  I  told 
them  in  the  fear  of  God  what  was  on  my  mmd,  and  offered 
myself  for  that  service.     At  the  same  time  Mr.  Richard  Board- 
man  offered  himself  likewise.     Mr.  Wesley  and  the  preach- 
ers in  Conference  heartily  approved  the  proposal  and  imme- 
diately appointed  us  missionaries  for  that  country.     As  we 
had  been  for  several  years  in  connection  and  were  well  known 
among  the  preachers,  we  judged  their  concurrence  with  what 

*  Narrative  of  Labors  in  South  Wales  performed  partly  in  company  with  the  ^ 
Rev  JoTn  w"  ley  in  the  years  1767  and  1768.     By  the  Rev.  Joseph  Pilmore,  D.D 
p  "57      Philadelphia :  isk     In  the  latter  period  of  his  life  he  wrote  h.s  name  P.l^ 
more. 


112 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


we  believed  to  be  a  call  from  God  of  the  utmost  importance, 
which  made  us  rest  fully  satisfied  with  oui-  appointment,  as 
we  had  then  sufficient  reason  to  believe  it  was  from  God." 

The  appointment  of  Pilmoor  and  Boardman  was  made  at 
the  English  Conference  which  convened  in  Leeds,  August  1, 
1769,  the  matter  having  been  introduced  by  Wesley  the  third 
day  of  the  session.  They  were  volunteers  for  the  heroic 
work.  Wesley  says  "they  willingly  offered  themselves  for 
the  service."  Pilmoor  did  not  offer  to  come  here  without 
mature  deliberation  and  a  comprehension  of  what  the  step 
involved,  and  the  same,  no  doubt,  was  true  of  Boardman. 
Wesley,  in  accepting  their  proffered  service,  was  confident 
they  were  men  who  would  "  endure  hardness  as  good  sol- 
diers of  Jesus  Christ."  Pilmoor,  in  the  two  years  preced- 
ing his  appointment,  was  several  times  in  personal  associa- 
tion with  Mr.  Wesley.  In  the  published  account  of  his  work 
in  Wales  in  1767  and  1768  he  speaks  of  being  in  company 
with  Wesley  in  that  field  on  various  occasions,  and  of  there 
hearing  him  preach  at  sundry  times.  Wesley  says  "Eichard 
Boardman  and  Joseph  Pilmoor  were  men  well  reported  of  by 
all,  and,  we  believe,  fully  qualified  for  the  work."  " 

\\  hen  they  were  appointed  to  America  there  was  scarcely 
a  Protestant  foreign  missionary  society  in  the  world.  There 
had  been  a  slight  movement  in  mission  enterprise  among  the 
Danes,  the  Moravians,  and  the  Dutch,  but  when  the  two 
Wesleyan  missionaries  embarked  for  this  country,  the  conse- 
crated cobbler  and  father  of  modern  missions,  William  Carey, 
was  only  eight  years  old.  Indeed,  until  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, there  was  no  general  advance  of  evangelical  Protestant- 
ism upon  the  immense  and  populous  regions  of  heathendom. 
Pilmoor  and  Boardman  Avere  among  the  first  English  mis- 
sionaries that  ventured  upon  stormy  seas  to  seek  a  foreign 
shore.  Not  very  long  since  a  gentleman,  in  his  eighty-sec- 
ond year,  who  was  indulging  in  some  reminiscent  remarks 
said,  "  I  saw  the  vessel  sail  that  took  out  some  of  the  first 
American  missionaries  that  ever  went  to  foreign  lands,  and 
now  whole  kingdoms  have  heard  Messiah's  name."     It  is  as- 

*  Wesley's  Sermons,  vol.  i.,  p.  500. 


THE   WESLEYAN   MISSION   FIELD   IN   AMERICA       113 

serted  in  the  Schaff-Herzog  "  Encyclopaedia  "  that  "  the  great 
religious  revival  starting  with  the  labors  of  the  Wesleys  and 
Whitefield  gave  the  impulse  to  recent  modern  missions." 
Dr.  Abel  Stevens  finely  says  :  "  It  is  an  interesting,  if  not  a 
more  significant  coincidence,  that  in  this  very  town  whence 
the  first  Wesleyan  missionaries  were  sent  to  America  was  to 
be  organized,  less  than  haK  a  century  later,  the  first  Wes- 
leyan Methodist  Missionary  Society,  an  institution  which  has 
transcended  in  success  every  other  similar  organization  of 
Protestant  Christendom." 

After  their  appointment,  and  while  the  Conference  was 
yet  in  session  at  Leeds,  Pilmoor  contemplated  with  strange 
feelings  the  new  and  extensive  mission  field  beyond  the 
sea.  Less  moral  heroism  was  required  for  a  British  Wes- 
leyan preacher  to  daro  the  difticulties  and  perils  of  the  itin- 
erancy in  America  after  those  first  missionaries  had  met  and 
surmounted  them,  and  had  cleared  pathways  for  their  suc- 
cessors, than  was  necessary  in  their  case.  They  were  to  go 
to  a  country  where  the  Indian  roamed  and  his  startling 
war-whoop  rent  the  sohtudes  of  vast  wildernesses  ;  and 
where  there  w^ere  but  few  dense  communities  of  people  of 
European  origin,  nor  scarcely  any  settlements  except  on  or 
near  the  Atlantic  coast.  They  were  to  go  to  a  land  destined 
to  be  the  seat  of  a  free  and  mighty  nation,  which  was  yet 
mostly  unpeopled,  and  chiefly  lay  in  the  crudeness  and  gran- 
deur of  its  primeval  wildness.  They  were  going  forth  as  Wes- 
leyan pioneers  to  a  country  in  which  there  were  but  few  Meth- 
odists ;  who  had  but  a  single  sanctuary,  except  such  as  were 
improvised  from  domiciles  or  shops,  poor-houses  or  jails,  um- 
brageous trees  or  verdant  fields.  They  were  to  be  voices  in 
the  wilderness  crying,  "  Prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord  " — toilers 
subduing  and  preparing  the  ground  for  other  laborers  ;  sowers 
of  the  seeds  of  harvests  to  be  garnered  by  other  reapers. 

If  the  work  and  the  far-away  field  that  were  in  their  view 
while  they  yet  lingered  with  their  co-laborers  at  the  Confer- 
ence in  Leeds  had  not  excited  within  them  unusual  and  con- 
flicting feelings,  they  could  hardly  have  claimed  to  have  been 
men  of  like  passions  as  their  fellows. 
8 


114 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


It  is  not  strange  therefore  that  the  sensitive  mind  of  Pil- 
moor  was  for  a  time  swept  by  tempestuous  emotions.  "  After 
I  had  offered  myseK  for  the  service  of  Christ  in  a  foreign 
country,"  he  says  in  his  journal,  "  my  soul  remained  happy 
in  the  enjoyment  of  peace.  But  it  was  not  long  before  the 
tempter  began  to  harass  my  mind  with  strong  and  fiery 
temptations.  He  set  before  me  the  difficulties  and  dangers 
that  would  attend  it— the  pain  of  leaving  my  friends  and  na- 
tive land,  the  uncertainty  of  being  received  in  that  country, 
the  hardships  I  should  be  exposed  to,  especially  if  the  people 
did  not  receive  my  message  nor  entertain  me  ;  and  he  painted 
the  whole  in  such  gloomy  colors  that  I  had  like  to  have  fainted 
and  given  up  all,  even  after  I  had  so  long  considered  and  so 
deliberately  resolved  upon  it.  Of  all  the  temptations  I  had 
ever  met  with  this  was  by  far  the  sharpest.  My  whole  soul 
was  tilled  with  anguish.  The  deep  waters  went  over  me. 
The  enemy  was  ready  to  triumph.  In  this  distress  I  called 
upon  God^  and  made  supplication  with  strong  cries  and  tears 
to  Him  that  was  able  to  deliver.  He  graciously  condescended 
to  hear  my  voice  and  sent  me  help  from  His  holy  habitation. 
He  rebuked  the  Accuser  ;  bruised  Satan  under  my  feet,  and 
entirely  removed  all  my  distress  and  perplexity." 

Thus  succored,  strengthened,  and  victorious  through 
prayer,  Pilmoor  came  oul  of  his  fiery  conflict  with  the  cour- 
age of  an  apostle.  "  Being  now  freed  from  all  my  trouble,"  he 
says,  ''  I  resolved  afresh  to  enter  upon  the  important  mission, 
and  determined  to  go  forth  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  It  was 
the  fixed  piirpose  of  my  heart  to  follow  the  Lord  to  a  land 
unknown,  and  to  be  faitliful  unto  Him,  let  the  consequence  be 
what  it  would.  I  was  willing  to  suffer  and  even  to  die  for  the 
Lord  Jesus,  so  I  mii>ht  glorify  Him  and  do  good  to  mankind. 
After  this  I  had  not  much  difficulty,  God  did  not  suffer  the 
devil  to  try  me  any  more  as  he  did  at  the  first,  so  that  I  was 
kept  in  perfect  peace  during  the  rest  of  the  Conference.  My 
soul  was  constantly  panting  after  God,  and  longing  for  the 
success  of  the  gospel  and  the  increase  of  the  redeemer's  king- 
dom in  the  world.  The  salvation  of  souls  lay  so  near  my 
heart  that  I  was  willing  to  sacrifice  my  life  to  do  them  good 


ENGLISH   WESLEYANS  CONTRIBUTE  FOR  THE  MISSION    115 

and  save  them  from  the  wrath  to  come.  When  Conference 
was  over  I  took  leave  of  Mr.  Wesley  and  the  preachers,  and 
set  off  to  see  my  relations.  I  was  somewhat  afraid  the  trial 
of  parting  with  them  would  be  too  great  for  them,  especially 
my  mother,  but  God  had  prepared  her  for  it  before  I  came. 
She  seemed  to  freely  give  me  up  to  Him,  and  was  much  re- 
signed to  His  will.  This  was  a  fresh  token  of  the  will  of 
God  concerning  my  going,  and  greatly  encouraged  my  soul, 
so  that  I  had  not  the  least  remaining  doubt  that  it  was  my 
duty  to  go.  The  way  was  made  plain  before  me  ;  every  obsta- 
cle was  entirely  removed,  and  I  was  fully  satisfied  about  it." 

Now  that  two  able  and  devoted  preachers  of  well-proven 
fitness  for  the  mission  had  offered  to  go  to  America,  and  had 
been  duly  appointed  thereto,  the  necessity  of  suitable  pecun- 
iary provision  for  their  voyage  w^as  seen.  This  exigence  was 
promptly  met  by  the  Conference.  "  As  the  brethren  in  con- 
nection with  us,"  says  Pilmoor,  "were  perfectly  satisfied  with 
the  appointment,  they  generously  made  a  collection  among 
themselves  toward  the  payment  of  our  passage  over.  After- 
ward it  was  mentioned  in  London,  Bristol,  etc.,  where  the 
people  willingly  offered  their  assistance,  and  money  enough 
was  soon  raised  to  send  us  over  the  Atlantic."  They  were 
the  first  foreign  missionaries  sent  forth  by  Methodism,  and  it 
was  discovered  at  the  outset  that  they  could  not  go  without 
funds.  Men  and  money  both  are  necessary  for  the  spread 
of  "  the  gospel  in  all  lands." 

The  Minutes  of  the  British  Conference  of  1769  contain 
the  following  record:  "Question  13.  We  have  a  pressing 
call  from  our  brethren  at  New  York  (who  have  built  a 
preaching  house)  to  come  over  and  help  them.  Who  is 
willing  to  go  ?  Answer.  Richard  Boardman  and  JosejDh 
Pilmoor. 

"  Question  14.  What  can  we  do  further  in  token  of  our 
brotherly  love  ?  Answer.  Let  us  now  make  a  collection 
among  ourselves.  This  was  immediately  done,  and  out  of  it 
£50  were  allotted  towards  the  payment  of  their  debt,  and 
about  £20  given  to  our  brethren  for  their  passage." 

Mr.  Wesley  subsequently  gave  a  further  account  of  this 


116 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


important  business  of  the  Conference  of  1769,  together  with 
a  brief  view  of  the  progress  of  the  new  movement  in  America. 

"  Tuesday,  August  1st.  Our  Conference  began  at  Leeds. 
On  Thursday  I  mentioned  the  case  of  our  brethren  at  New 
York.  For  some  years  past  several  of  our  brethren  from 
England  and  Ireland  (and  some  of  them  preachers)  had  set- 
tled in  North  America,  and  had  in  various  places  formed 
societies,  particularly  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York.  The 
society  at  New  York  had  lately  built  a  commodious  preaching- 
house,  and  now  desired  our  help,  being  in  great  want  of 
money,  but  much  more  of  preachers.  Two  of  our  preachers, 
Richard  Boardman  and  Joseph  Pilmoor,  willingly  offered 
themselves  for  the  service,  by  whom  we  determined  to  send 
over  fifty  pounds  as  a  token  of  our  brotherly  love. 

*'  Several  of  our  preachers  went  over  in  the  following  years. 
As  they  taught  the  same  doctrines  with  our  brethren  here,  so 
they  used  the  same  discipline.  And  the  work  of  God  pros- 
pered in  their  hands  so  that  before  the  Hebellion'^  broke  out 
about  two  and  twenty  preachers  (most  of  them  Americans) 
acted  in  concert  with  each  other,  and  near  three  thousand 
persons  were  united  together  in  the  American  societies. 
These  were  chiefly  in  the  provinces  of  Maryland,  Virginia, 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York."t 

The  contribution  of  both  men  and  money  for  the  work  in 
America  displayed  almost  pathetically  the  Apostolic  devotion 
and  zeal  of  Wesley  and  his  preachers.  At  the  conference  of 
1769  Pilmoor  and  Boardman  freely  gave  themselves.  The 
other  preachers,  led  by  Wesley,  gave  their  money  promptly 
and  freely.  They  were  mostly  if  not  wholly  poor  in  purse, 
yet  they  raised  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  the 
greater  part  of  which  was  transmitted  to  the  New  York  so- 
ciety as  "  a  token  of  brotherly  love  ;  "  the  rest  was  employed 
for  the  expenses  of  the  missionaries.  What  was  still  better, 
with  the  money  and  the  messengers  who  bore  it,  went  the 

*  Mr.  Wesley  was  a  loyal  Briton,  and  opposed  to  the  American  revolt.  As  we 
shall  see,  the  Methodists  in  this  country  were  seriously  compromised  during  the 
War  of  Independence  by  his  "  Calm  address  to  our  American  Colonies." 

+  A  Short  History  of  the  People  called  Methodists,  appended  by  Mr.  Wesley  to  hia 
Concise  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  iv.     London. 


THE   WESLEYAN   CONFERENCE   OF   1769 


117 


heart-felt   solicitude    and   the    faith-winged   prayers  of   the 
Conference  for  the  Americans. 

The  Leeds  Conference  closed  August  4, 1769.  Its  session 
was  described  by  W^esley  as  a  peculiarly  *' loving  one."  He 
says  that  "  at  the  conclusion  all  the  preachers  were  melted 
down  while  they  were  singing  those  lines  for  me  :— 

"  '  Thou  who  so  long  hast  saved  me  here 
A  little  longer  save, 
Till,  freed  from  sin  and  freed  from  fear, 

I  sink  into  the  grave  : 
Till  glad  I  lay  this  body  down, 
Thv  servant,  Lord,  attend  ; 

4,  7  7 

And  O  !  my  life  of  mercies  crown 
With  a  triumphant  end.'  " 

Only  four  days  before  his  death,  Mr.  Wesley,  says  Dr. 
Whitehead,  "  while  sitting  in  his  chair,  looked  quite  cheer- 
ful, and  in  a  manner  we  all  felt,  repeated,  '  Till  glad  I  lay 
this  body  down,' "  ^'  etc.,  a  part  of  the  same  hymn  the  preach- 
ers sang  for  him  so  feelingly  at  this  memorable  Conference. 

The  Leeds  Intelligencer  of  August  8th,  noticed  this  Confer- 
ence thus  :  "  For  a  week  past  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  AVesley  has 
held  a  kiud  of  visitation,  but  what  they  call  a  Conference,  in 
this  town,  with  several  hundred  of  his  preachers  from  most 
parts  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  when  he  settled  their  sev- 
eral routes  for  the  succeeding  year.  After  collecting  a  large 
sum  of  money  for  the  purpose  of  sending  out  missionaries 
for  America,  he  yesterday  morning  set  out  for  Manchester."t 

Pilmoor  left  a  brief  record  of  this  historic  Conference, 
which  is  as  follows  :  "  Tuesday,  August  1st,  Mr.  Jaco  preached 
and  at  six  our  Conference  began.  The  business  then  was  to 
examine  the  character  of  the  preachers,  and  it  was  a  matter 
of  great  rejoicing  that  our  brethren  in  general  walk  worthy 
of  the  gospel.     Our  evening  congregation  was  uncommonly 

*  Discourse  delivered  at  the  New  Chapel,  City  Road,  March  9, 1791 ,  at  the  funeral 
of  the  late  John  Wesley.     By  John  Whitehead,  p.  61.     London,  1791. 

t  Lockwood's  Western  Pioneers,  p  05.  The  "  several  hundred  preachers"  spoken 
of  by  the  Leeds  Intelligencer  as  in  attendance  at  the  Conference  must  have  included 
people  who  attended  the  religions  services  thereof,  for  only  116  preachers  were  ap- 
pointed to  circuits  at  that  Conference. 


118 


THE   WESLEYA:N    movement   in   AMERICA 


lai'ge  and  deeply  serious  while  Mr.  Wesley  was  pressing  them 
to  follow  after  holiness.  Wednesday  morning  we  had  a 
profitable  sermon  from  Mr.  Olivers,  and  at  night  Mr.  Wesley 
preached  again.  Thursday  morning  Mr.  Helton  preached, 
after  which  w^e  made  our  annual  subscription  and  gave  above 
a  hundred  guineas  for  the  support  of  our  superannuated  breth- 
ren, widows,  and  children.  At  night  Mr.  Wesley  gave  us  an 
excellent  sermon  on  the  reward  God  will  give  the  righteous 
at  the  great  day  of  accounts.  Friday  Mr.  Mather  preached 
on  the  gi*eat  duty  of  improving  our  talents.  Then  the  preach- 
ers were  stationed  and  Mr.  Wesley  read  us  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Wliitefield  which  was  a  special  blessiug  to  the  Conference  in 
general."  * 

The  Conference  at  Leeds  being  over  Pilmoor  and  Board- 
man  took  leave  of  their  brethren  and  began  preparations  for 
their  departure.  Pilmoor  w^ent  to  visit  and  say  farewell  to 
his  parents  and  relatives.  At  his  father's  house  he  preached 
at  the  door  to  a  very  large  congregation  in  the  street.  Most 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  were  there  and  the  Divine 
blessing  was  upon  the  word.  He  also  preached  "  with  great 
freedom  of  mind  to  listening  multitudes  "  at  Kirby,  Notoon, 
Barndale,  and  Gillimer.  Manv  of  his  hearers  were  his  rela- 
tives  and  neighbors,  "  who,"  he  says,  "  all  seemed  much  af- 
fected at  the  thought  of  parting,  but  I  endeavored  to  comfort 
them  with  the  hope  of  meeting  again,  if  not  on  earth,  in 
another  and  better  world." 

Pilmoor  met  Boardman  at  York.  In  proceeding  thither 
he  preached  at  Hovingham  and  Sheriffhutton.  He  preached 
at  York  in  the  "  Chapel  to  a  large  and  attentive  audience  on 
August  13th."  Two  days  later  he  reached  London.  "  The 
rest  of  the  week,"  he  says,  "  we  spent  in  making  preparations 
for  our  voyage  to  Philadelphia.  The  London  Methodists 
treated  us  with  the  utmost  kindness  and  respect.  They 
plentifully  supplied  out  wants,  greatly  encouraged  our  minds 
in  the  arduous  undertaking,  and  wished  us  success  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord." 

*  Pilmoor's  Narrative  of  Labors  in  South  Wales,  performed  partly  in  company 
with  the  Rev.  John  Wesley,  pp.  102,  103. 


INTERVIEW   AVITH   WHITEFIELD 


119 


The  missionaries  met  the  Rev.  George  Wliitefield  in  Lon- 
don and  with  him  they  enjoyed  a  memorable  interview.  The 
great  evangelical  orator,  whose  fame  filled  Christendom,  sent 
for  them.  Accordingly  they  waited  upon  him  and  "  he 
treated  us,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  with  all  the  kindness  and  tender- 
ness of  a  father  in  Christ."  He  had  given  much  time  and 
labor  to  America,  and  he  could  not  but  feel  concerned  for  the 
success  of  the  first  itinerant  laborers  whom  his  long-cher- 
ished friend,  the  Eev.  John  Wesley,  had  appointed  to  this 
vast  field.  His  acquaintance  with  the  country  and  his  long 
service  and  wide  travels  in  it  gave  him  especial  qualifications 
as  a  counsellor  of  the  two  Wesleyan  preachers  w^ho  were  about 
to  sail  for  Philadelphia.  Pilmoor,  in  speaking  of  their  visit 
to  Whitefield,  says,  "  He  knew  what  directions  to  give  us. 
Difference  in  sentiment  made  no  difference  in  love  and  affec- 
tion. He  prayed  heartily  for  us,  and  commended  us  to  God 
and  the  word  of  his  grace.     We  jjarted  in  love." 

While  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  were  about  to  sail  to 
America,  Whitefield  was  destined  quickly  to  follow  them  on 
his  seventh  and  last  voyage  thither.  His  first  visit  to  Amer- 
ica was  in  1738  in  response  to  the  solicitation  of  the  Wes- 
ley s.  His  sojourn  then  was  short — four  months — and  was 
spent  in  Georgia  and  South  Carolina.  In  Savannah  he  de- 
termined to  found  an  orphan  house,  and  returned  to  Eng- 
land to  "make  a  beginning  toward  laying  a  foundation" 
thereof  and  also  to  receive  priest's  orders."  It  is  said  that 
John  Wesley  had  thirty  to  forty  children  in  his  care  in  Geor- 
gia before  Whitefield  went  there.  Mr.  Wesley  says,  "Mr. 
Whitefield  came  over  to  Georgia  to  assist  me  in  preaching 
either  to  the  English  or  the  Indians.  As  I  was  embarked 
for  England  before  he  arrived  he  preached  to  the  English 
altogether."  f 

Philips,  the  biographer  of  Whitefield,  says  that  about  the 
year  "1738  letters  were  received- [by  Whitefield]  from  the 
Wesleys  and  Ingham  then  in  Georgia.  Their  descriptions 
of  the  moral  condition  of  the  British  Colonies  in  America  af- 

*  Memoirs  of  Whitefield,  by  the  Rev.  John  Gillies,  D.D. 
t  Wesley's  Sermons,  vol.  i.,  p.  499. 


120 


THE    WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


fected  his  heart  powerfully.  The  chord  touched  ceased  not 
to  vibrate  in  his  inmost  soul.  From  the  moment  it  was 
struck  Oxford  had  no  magnet,  Hampshire  no  charms,  the 
metropolis  no  fascination,  for  this  young  evangelist.  He 
promptly  declined  a  profitable  curacy,  intent  on  going 
abroad." 

Charles  Wesley,  many  years  subsequently,  described  in 
verse  to  Whitefield  how  from  America  he  called  to  him  to 
come  and  how  in  response  Whitefield  "  flew  "  hither,  leaving 
"country,  fame,  and  ease  and  friends  behind."  Among  the 
great  services  the  Wesleys  rendered  to  America  was  that  of 
inducing  George  Whitefield  to  come  over. 

In  1739  the  great  evangelist  made  a  second  voyage  to 
America.  He  arrived  in  Philadelphia  early  in  November 
and  he  "  was  immediately  invited  to  preach  in  the  churches, 
to  which  people  of  all  denominations  thronged."  At  this 
time  he  "  is  represented  as  of  middle  stature,  slender  body, 
fair  complexion,  comely  appearance,  and  extremely  bashful 
and  modest."  After  a  brief  time  spent  in  Philadelphia  he 
went  to  New  York.  Being  refused  the  Church  he  preached 
in  the  fields  and  in  a  "  Meeting  house."  He  went  from  New 
York  to  Philadelphia  and  thence  travelled  "on  horseback  "  * 
as  far  south  as  Savannah,  preaching  in  Pennsylvania,  Dela- 
ware, Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina, 
and  Georgia.  He  extended  his  labors  to  various  parts  of 
New  Jersey  and  New^  England.  In  this  visit  of  over  a  year,  in 
which  he  "  laid  the  first  brick  "  of  his  orphan  house,  his  min- 
istrv  was  very  powerful.  A  New  England  minister  wrote : 
"  His  head,  his  heart,  his  hands  seem  to  be  full  of  his  Mas- 
ter's business.  His  discourses,  especially  when  he  goes  into 
the  expository  way,  are  very  entertaining.  Every  eye  is 
fixed  upon  him  and  every  ear  chained  to  his  lips.  Most  are 
very  much  affected  ;  many  awakened  and  convinced,  and  a 
general  seriousness  excited.  His  address,  more  especially  to 
the  passions,  is  wonderful,  and  beyond  what  I  have   ever 

seen." 

lu  1744  Whitefield  made  his  third  voyage  to  America. 

*  Mr.  David  Creamer,  in  The  Methodist,  New  York,  March  9,  1861. 


WHITEFIELD   AND    WESLEY   DISAGREE  IN   DOCTRINE     121 


Then  his  stay  was  prolonged  beyond  three  and  a  half  years. 
His  clarion  voice  rang  out  melodiously  over  the  land,  attract- 
ing all  classes  and  subduing  enchained  auditories  to  contri- 
tion, tears,  and  prayer.  The  happy  effects  of  his  thrilling 
proclamation  of  the  gospel  were  visible  in  all  the  vast  Ameri- 
can circuit  he  ranged.  In  1746  he  wrote  from  Maryland 
to  Mr.  Wesley  :  "  If  you  ask  how  is  it  with  me  ?  I  answer, 
Happy  in  Jesus,  the  Lord  my  Kighteousness.  If  you  ask, 
what  am  I  doing  ?  Ranging  and  hunting  in  the  American 
woods  after  poor  sinners  and  resolved  to  pursue  the  heavenly 
game  more  and  more.  If  you  ask  with  what  success  ?  I 
would  answer,  (O  amazing  grace)  with  great  success  indeed."  * 

Prior  to  this  third  visit  to  America  the  doctrinal  breach 
between  Whitefield  and  the  Wesleys  was  accomplished. 
John  Wesley  had  printed  a  sermon  entitled,  "  Free  Grace," 
in  which  he  contended  "  very  strongly  against  election,  a  doc- 
trine," says  Whitefield,  "  which  I  thought  and  do  now  be- 
lieve was  taught  me  of  God,  therefore  could  not  possibly  re- 
cede from.  Thinking  it  my  duty  to  do  so  I  had  written  an 
answer  at  the  orphan  house,  which  though  revised,  1  think 
had  some  too  strong  expressions  about  absolute  reprobation, 
which  the  apostle  leaves  rather  to  be  inferred  than  ex- 
pressed. .  .  .  Ten  thousand  times  would  I  rather  have 
died  than  part  with  my  old  friends.  It  would  have  melted 
any  heart  to  have  heard  Mr.  Charles  Wesley  and  me  weeping 
after  prayer  that  if  possible,  the  breach  might  be  pre- 
vented." f 

AVhitefield  in  1741  printed  in  London  "  A  Letter  to  the 
Rev.  John  Wesley  in  answer  to  his  sermon  entitled  '  Free 
Grace.'  "  He  wrote  the  pamphlet  in  Georgia  in  1740.  In  it, 
on  page  10,  Whitefield  said :  "  I  frankly  acknowledge  I  be- 
lieve the  doctrine  of  Reprobation,  that  God  intends  to  give 
saving  grace  through  Jesus  Christ  only  to  a  certain  number 
and  that  the  rest  of  mankind  after  the  fall  of  Adam,  being 
justly  left  of  God  to  continue  in  sin  will  at  last  justly  suffer 
that  eternal  death  which  is  its  proper  wages.  This  is  the  es- 
tablished doctrine  of  scripture  and  acknowledged  as  such  in 

*  Arminian  Magazine,  London,  1778.  +  Gillies'  Life  of  Whitefield. 


122 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN  AMERICA 


the  seventeenth  article  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  Bishop 
Burnet  himself  confesses ;  yet  dear  Mr.  Wesley  denies  it." 

Whitefield  dehghted  in  the  doctrine  of  Election,  and  in  this 
Letter  to  Wesley  on  page  26  he  said  :  "  Our  Lord  knew  for 
whom  he  died.  There  was  an  eternal  compact  between  the 
father  and  the  son.  A  certain  number  was  then  given  him 
as  the  purchase  and  reward  of  his  obedience  and  death.  For 
these  he  prayed  and  not  for  the  world.  For  these  and  these 
only  He  is  now  interceding  and  with  their  salvation  he  will 
be  fully  satisfied."  He  also  in  the  same  work  said:  "  This 
doctrine  is  my  daily  support.  I  should  utterly  sink  under  a 
dread  of  my  impending  trials  were  I  not  firmly  persuaded 
that  Gud  iias  chosen  me  in  Christ  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world,  and  that  now  having  effectually  called  he  will  suf- 
fer none  to  pluck  me  out  of  his  Almighty  hand."  In  this 
public  letter  to  Wesley,  Whitefield  professed  great  love  for 
him.  "  I  am  sure,"  he  says,  "  I  love  you  in  the  bowels  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  think  I  could  lay  down  my  life  for  your 
sake,  but  yet,  dear  sir,  I  cannot  help  strenuously  opposing 
your  errors  upon  this  important  subject,  because  I  think  you 
warmly,  not  designedly,  oppose  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus." 

Though  separated  in  opinion  the  great  evangelists  were 
one  in  heart.  Whitefield  wrote  his  will  with  his  own  hand 
six  months  before  his  decease,  and  he  annexed  to  it  a  Nota 
Bena,  in  which  he  said,  "  I  leave  a  mourning  ring  to  my 
honored  and  dear  friends,  and  disinterested  fellow-laborers, 
the  Eev.  Messrs.  John  and  Charles  Wesley,  in  token  of  my 
indissoluble  union  with  them  in  heart  and  Christian  affection, 
notwithstanding  our  difference  in  judgment  about  some  par- 
ticular points  of  doctrine."  *  Thus  did  he  accord  with  Sir 
Thomas  Browne,  who,  in  his"  Keligio  Medici,"  said,  ''I  could 
never  divide  myself  from  any  man  upon  the  difference  of  an 
opinion  or  be  angry  with  his  judgment  for  not  agreeing  with 
me."  This  spirit  of  generous  toleration  was  illustrated  by 
Wesley  also  in  his  unbroken  friendship  for  Whitefield. 

It  is  said  that  one  of  his  executors,  Mr.  Eobert  Keen, 
often  asked  Mr.  Whitefield,  "  If  you  should  die  abroad,  whom 

*  Gillies'  Life  of  Whitefield. 


whitefield' S  WONDERFUL   PREACHING  IN   AMERICA  123 

shall  we  get  to  preach  your  funeral  sermon  ?  Must  it  be 
your  old  friend  John  Wesley  ?  "  and  he  always  answered, 
"  He  is  the  man."  Mr.  Keen,  therefore,  on  hearing  of  White- 
field's  deatb^  waited  upon  Mr.  Wesley  and  secured  his  ser- 
vice for  the  mournful  occasion.  In  the  funeral  discourse 
Wesley  "  bore  ample  testimony  to  the  undissembled  piety, 
the  ardent  zeal,  and  the  extensive  usefulness  of  his  much 
loved  and  honored  friend."  Concerning  Whitefield's  separa- 
tion from  the  Wesleys,  John  Wesley  says  :  "  A  good  man  who 
met  with  us  when  we  were  in  Oxford  conversed  much  with  dis- 
senters and  contracted  strong  prejudices  against  the  Church. 
I  mean  Mr.  Whitefield.  Not  long  afterward  he  totally  sepa- 
rated from  us."  * 

Before  the  Wesleyan  movement  rose  west  of  the  Atlantic 
Whitefield  had  visited  America  six  times.  By  his  splendid 
oratory  he  upbore  the  cross  before  the  gaze  of  spellbound  and 
weeping  multitudes  in  the  more  populous  portions  of  the 
country  and  gave  an  impulse  to  the  kingdom  of  Messiah 
which  has  never  ceased.  Along  the  coast  region  from  Savan- 
nah to  Boston  he  poured  from  his  anointed  lips  the  musi- 
cal and  melting  strains  of  a  blood-bought  salvation.  The 
effect  was  visible  in  the  gathering  of  the  people  from  far 
and  near  to  his  heart-piercing  and  soul-moving  ministrations 
and  also  in  their  renewed  natures  and  reformed  lives.  In 
1739  he  preached  on  Society  Hill,  Philadelphia,  to  a  crowd  of 
fifteen  thousand  people,  f  "The  Gazette  of  the  day  says,  "  The 
change  to  religion  is  altogether  surprising  ;  through  the  infiu- 
ence  of  Whitefield  no  books  sell  but  religious  and  such  is  the 
general  conversation."  "  On  Thursday  last,"  says  the  Peiin- 
^sylvania  Gazette  of  1739,  "  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield  left  this 
city  and  was  accompanied  to  Chester  by  one  hundred  and 
fifty  horse,  and  preached  to  seven  thousand  people.  On  Fri- 
day he  preached  twice  at  Willington  [probably  Wilmington] 
to  about  five  thousand ;  on  Saturday  at  Newcastle  to  about 
two  thousand  five  hundred,  and  the  same  evening  at  Chris- 
tian Bridge  to  about  three  thousand.  On  Sunday  at  White 
Clay  Creek  he  preached  twice,  resting  about  half  an  hour 

*  Wesley's  Sermons,  voL  i.,  p.  497.  t  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia. 


124 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


between  the  sermons,  to  about  eight  thousand,  of  whom  three 
thousand  it  is  computed  came  on  horseback.  It  rained  most 
of  the  time,  and  yet  they  stood  in  the  open  air."  * 

Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin  has  described  the  spiritual  effects 
of  Whitefield's  marvellous  ministry  here.  "  It  was  wonder- 
ful," he  says,  "  to  see  the  change  made  in  the  manners  of  our 
inhabitants.  From  being  thoughtless  or  indifferent  about 
religion,  it  seemed  as  if  all  the  world  were  becoming  relig- 
ious ;  so  that  one  could  not  walk  through  the  towTi  in  an 
evening  without  hearing  psalms  sung  in  different  families  of 
every  street."  The  effect  of  his  ministry  in  Philadelphia  at 
one  time  was  to  close  the  dancing-school  and  to  shut  up  the 
concert  and  ball-room,  f 

As  John  the  Baptist  was  the  forerunner  and  herald  of 
the  Founder  of  Christianity,  so  "Wesley's  early  fellow-laborer, 
George  AVliitefield,  w^ent  before  the  Arminian  Methodism 
of  America  and  prepared  its  way.  He  opened  highways  for 
its  progress  by  preaching  its  vital  truths  and  experience  with 
an  irresistible  fascination  and  power  of  oratory  which  it  may 
be  doubted  if  the  world  ever  saw  surpassed,  and  by  making 
the  country  familiar,  as  no  doubt  he  did,  with  the  spread  of 
the  Methodist  revival  in  England,  and  with  the  name  of  Wes- 
ley, its  great  leader.  It  was  his  office  also  in  some  parts  of 
the  land  to  make  the  people  acquainted  with  the  rudiments 
of  the  word  and  work  of  redemption.  "  There  are  thou- 
sands in  these  southern  parts,"  he  said,  in  one  of  his  letters, 
"  that  scarce  ever  heard  of  redeeming  grace  and  love."  He 
drove  the  ploughshare  of  a  pentecostal  gospel  through  the 
virgin  American  soil  which  the  Wesley  an  preachers  after- 
ward cultivated,  and  from  which  they  reaped  abounding  har- 
vests. The  popular  ear  was  opened  by  his  unctuous  elo- 
quence to  receive  their  plain,  evangelical  message.  Mr. 
Wesley  says  :  "  All  men  owned  that  God  was  with  "  "VMiit^- 
field,  and  "  by  his  ministry  a  line  of  communication  was 
formed  from  Georgia  to  New  England."  He  also  says  that 
in   a  tour  Whitefield  made,  in  April,  1740,  "  through  Penn- 

*  Quoted  in  Bishop  Thompson's  Evidences  of  Revealed  Religion, 
t  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia. 


INTERVIEW  WITH  CHARLES  WESLEY 


125 


sylvania,  the  Jerseys,  and  New  York,  incredible  multitudes 
flocked  to  hear,  among  whom  were  abundance  of  negroes. 
In  all  places  the  greater  part  of  the  hearers  were  affected  to 
an  amazing  degi'ee.  In  some  places  thousands  cried  out 
aloud,  many  as  in  the  agonies  of  death.  Most  were  drowned 
in  tears,  some  turned  pale  as  death,  others  were  wringing 
their  hands,  others  lying  on  the  ground,  others  sinking  into 
the  arms  of  their  friends,  almost  all  lifting  up  their  eyes  and 
calling  for  mercy."  * 

Not  only  did  the  two  missionaries  who  were  about  to  sail 
for  their  distant  field  enjoy  a  memorable  interview  for  coun- 
sel and  prayer  with  Whitefield  in  London,  but  it  was  their 
privilege  likewise  there  to  meet  another  eminent  person- 
age, whose  lofty  and  inspiring  songs  have  given  him  a  great 
and  enduring  celebrity.  On  the  last  Sabbath  of  their  delay 
in  the  English  metropolis— August  20,  1769— they  saw  the 
famous  lyrist  of  Methodism  and  received  his  benediction. 
Pilmoor  says  :  "  The  Eev.  Charles  Wesley  preached  and  ad- 
ministered the  sacrament  in  Spitalfields.  God  was  remark- 
ably present  among  the  people,  and  it  was  truly  a  time  of  re- 
freshing from  the  presence  of  the  Lord.  At  five  I  preached 
in  the  foundry  to  a  numerous  congregation  with  great  en- 
largedness  of  heart,  and  was  abundantly  blessed  in  my  own 
soul.  Charles  Wesley  met  the  society,  and  afterward  sent 
for  Mr.  Boardman  and  me  into  his  room,  where  he  spoke 
freely  and  kindly  to  us  about  our  sea  voyage  and  the  impor- 
tant business  in  which  we  had  engaged.  After  giving  us 
much  good  advice  he  sent  us  forth  with  his  blessing  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord.  This  was  of  great  advantage  to  us,  as  it 
afforded  us  the  pleasing  reflection  that  we  had  not  acted 
contrary  to  the  mind  of  our  brethren  and  fathers  in  Christ. 
We  had  what  we  believed  a  call  from  God  ;  we  had  the  ap- 
probation and  authority  of  three  godly  clergymen  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  likewise  the  authority  of  more  than 
a  hundred  preachers  of  the  gospel,  who  are  laboring  day  and 
night  to  save  souls  from  destruction  and  advance  the  king- 
dom of  Christ.     Hence  we  concluded  we  had  full  power,  ac- 

*  Wesley's  Sermons,  vol.  i.,  p.  473. 


126  THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN    AMERICA 

cording  to  the  New  Testament,  to  preach  the  everlasting 
gospel  and  to  do  all  possible  good  to  mankind." 

Thus,  before  leaving  the  English  shore,  the  first  regularly 
appointed  Wesleyan  missionaries  to  America  held  personal 
intercourse  with  three  of  the  most  illustrious  and  apostolic 
men  in  the  later  history  of  Christianity,  in  relation  to  the 
mission  they  were  about  to  inaugurate  in  the  new  world. 
On  the   altitude  of   his   fame   John  Wesley   stands   singly 
and  unchallenged,   as  the  greatest  religious  reformer  since 
Luther.    George  Whitefield  probably  was  the  mightiest  itiner- 
ant evangelist  the  world  has  seen  since  the  era  of  the  apos- 
tles.    Charles  AVesley's  popularity  as  a  Christian  poet  has 
never  waned,  but  his  celebrity  as  one  of  the  greatest  hym- 
nists  of  the  world  is  still  extending.     Of  whom,  in  the  place 
they  filled  and  the  influence  they  impressed  upon  their  age 
and  the  ages  following,  can  superior  greatness  be  afiirmed, 
at  least  in  modem   times,  in  the   English-speaking  world? 
By  whom,  indeed,  since   the  age  of  the   apostles,  has  the 
apostohc  spiiit  and  power  been  more  fully  iUustrated  than 
by  that  immortal  trio  of  Christian  leaders  and  reformers— 
the    entrancing   and   overwhelming  pulpit  orator,   the   glo- 
rious and  deathless  evangelical  singer,  and  the  great  and 
holy  chieftain  of  a  world-stirring  reproduction  of  the  Pente- 
cost ?     From  their  presence,  counselled  by  their  wisdom,  in- 
spired  by   their    prayers,   and    bearing    their   benediction, 
Boardman  and  Pilmoor  went  forth  to  encounter  billows  and 
tempests,  and  to  give  propulsion  to  the  new  reformation  in 
the  nascent  empire  of  freedom  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Concerning  the  movements  of  Boardman  after  the  Leeds 
Conference  rose,  we  know  but  little.  He,  however,  was  with 
Pilmoor  in  London  before  they  sailed.  But  for  Pilmoor's 
eloquent  narrative,  which  has  descended  to  us  in  manuscript, 
we  should  be  without  information  concerning  most  of  the 
labors  of  either  of  those  preachers  in  connection  with  Method- 
ism in  America.  It  is  probable  that  Boardman,  like  Pil- 
moor kept  some  record  of  his  work,  but  no  such  product  of 
his  pen  seems  to  be  extant.  He  was  not,  like  his  colleague, 
favored  with  long  Hfe,  and  save  a  few  autograph  letters,  and 


boardman' S   FRUITFUL   SERMON    ON   JABEZ  127 


three  or  four  epistles  in  print,  his  writings  probably  have 
perished.  In  Pilmoor's  Journal  we  get  interesting  glimpses 
of  Boardman's  travels  and  labors,  but  the  loss  of  his  own 
diary,  if  such  he  kept,  is  irreparable. 

Tradition  gives  us  one  beautiful  incident  of  his  ministry 
in  1769,  which  transpired  when  he  was  going  up  to  London 
to  embark  for  America.  He  stopped  for  a  night  at  a  small 
village  called  Moneyash,  in  Derbyshire,  and  in  the  evening 
he  preached  there  on  the  prayer  of  Jabez.  A  young  woman 
— Mary  Eedfern — was  deeply  moved  by  the  sermon  and  be- 
came a  Christian.  She  subsequently  married  William  Bunt- 
ing, and  settled  in  Manchester.  The  memory  of  the  dis- 
course she  heard  from  Boardman  ten  years  before  led  her  to 
name  her  only  son  Jabez,  "  a  memento  of  her  gratitude  and 
a  prophecy  of  his  history."  While  he  was  an  infant  she 
carried  him  to  Oldham  Street  chapel,  and  presented  him  to 
Mr.  Wesley,  that  he  might  give  his  blessing  to  the  child. 
Mrs.  Bunting  took  her  boy  to  the  Methodist  meetings,  and 
when  he  was  fifteen  years  old  he  was  excluded  from  a  love- 
feast  because  he  had  no  ticket  nor  note  of  admission  from  the 
preacher.  His  mother  said  to  him  :  "I  do  not  know  what 
you  think  of  it,  Jabez,  but  to  me  it  seems  an  awful  thing  that, 
having  been  carried  there,  you  should  now  be  excluded  by 
your  own  fault."  Jabez  afterward  declared  that  "  the  blow 
was  struck  in  the  right  place."  He  soon  became  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  society.  Not  many  years  after  this  he  was 
known  as  a  rising  Wesleyan  preacher.  He  became  the  great- 
est leader  of  British  Methodism  since  Wesley.  Of  states- 
manlike intellect,  sagacious  in  counsel,  strong  and  eloquent 
in  speech,  his  authority  in  the  English  Conference  "  was  for 
many  years  as  powerful  as  that  of  one  man  can  ever  be  in  a 
free  assembly."  He  administered  most  successfully  the 
Wesleyan  Missionary  Society.  In  the  pulpit  he  wielded  ex- 
traordinary power,  and  his  ministry  was  very  fruitful  of  con- 
versions. In  this  great  Methodist  preacher  we  see  the  far- 
reaching  effects  of  a  single  discourse  by  Richard  Boardman. 

A  relic  is  preserved  which  is  a  memorial  of  his  sermon  on 
Jabez  (1  Chron.  iv.  9,  10),  and  of  its  extraordinary  fruitful- 


128 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVExMENT   IN   AMERICA 


ness  in  the  lives  and  works  of  the  Buntings.  It  is  a  cane, 
and  it  was  presented  to  the  Methodist  Historical  Society  in 
Philadelphia,  November  10,  1881,  by  the  Eev.  Bishop  Peck. 
In  presenting  it  the  bishop  gave  its  history  thus  :  "I  hold  in 
my  hand  the  staff  of  Eichard  Boardman.  On  his  way  to  the 
port  from  which  he  sailed  to  America,  he  preached  a  sermon 
concerning  Jabez.  Miss  Mary  Redfern  was  in  the  congrega- 
tion. She  was  powerfully  impressed  and  soon  converted. 
She  married  William  Bunting,  and  named  her  first-born  Ja- 
bez. This  son  was  the  distinguished  Rev.  Dr.  Jabez  Bunt- 
in  <>•,  the  master  mind  of  British  Methodism.  After  the  death 
of  Ml.  Boardman,  this  cane  was  given  to  Dr.  Bunting  in 
memory  of  his  name  and  the  conversion  of  his  mother.  At 
his  death  it  became  the  charge  of  his  son,  T.  Percival  Bunt- 
ing, Esq.,  an  English  banister.  He  entrusted  it  with  me, 
requesting  that  it  should  be  finally  left  where  it  would  be 
carefully  preserved  and  convenient  of  access.  Mr.  Board- 
man  preached  his  first  sermon  in  America  in  Philadelphia, 
and  became  very  dear  to  the  Church  here.  Believing  that 
vou  would  consider  it  a  valuable  historical  relic,  I  take  the 
liberty  to  present  it  to  the  Philadelphia  Conference  Histori- 
cal Society." 

"  On  the  twenty-first  of  August,  1769,"  says  Pilmoor, 
"  after  preaching  once  more  in  the  foundry,  we  took  leave  of 
our  London  friends,  went  to  the  Carolina  Cofi'ee  House, 
where  w^e  met  with  Captain  Sparks,  with  whom  we  were  to 
sail,  and  two  gentlemen  who  were  to  go  as  passengers  with 
We  took  the  coach  for  Gravesend,  where  we  embarked 


us. 


in  the  evening  on  board  the  Mary  and  Elizabeth  for  Phila- 
delphia. In  the  morning  we  weighed  anchor  and  dropped 
down  the  river  as  far  as  Deal,  but  the  wind  proving  con- 
trary, we  were  obliged  to  lay  at  anchor  in  the  Road  for  sev- 
eral days.  While  we  lay  in  the  Downs  I  had  fine  opportu- 
nity for  study,  and  foimd  my  mind  in  general  much  resigned 

to  the  will  of  God." 

On  September  1st  a  fine  and  favoring  breeze  prevailed, 
the  anchor  was  immediately  hoisted,  and  the  voyage  began. 
Tlie  next  day  being  Sunday  they  "had  prayers  upon  the 


A   STORM   AT   SEA 


129 


quarter-deck."  Boardman  preached  on  "  The  great  day  of 
His  wrath  is  come  and  who  shall  be  able  to  stand  ?  "  The 
behavior  of  the  sailors  and  steerage  passengers  was  so  excel- 
lent that  another  service  was  held  on  deck  in  the  afternoon. 
The  missionaries  improved  their  time  on  the  ocean  in  pray- 
ers, in  study,  and  in  sacred  ministrations.  For  some  time 
they  suffered  from  sea-sickness,  so  they  "  could  not  help  each 
other."  They  were  well  cared  for,  however,  by  the  captain 
and  the  steward  of  the  cabin. 

When  they  had  been  sailing  four  weeks  they  encountered 
that  terror  of  the  mariner,  a  storm  at  sea.  It  arose  about 
seven  in  the  morning.  For  a  short  time  the  ship  kept  on 
her  course,  but  the  violence  of  the  tempest  soon  made  it 
necessary  "  to  haul  in  all  the  sails  and  lay  to  "  until  it  ceased. 
The  great  billows  were  of  mountainous  height,  and  so  furious 
was  the  storm  "  it  seemed  utterly  impossible  for  the  ship 
to  live  or  keep  above  water."  The  heavens  frowned  with 
gloom,  and  the  ocean  was  a  spectacle  of  appalling  grandeur, 

*'  Inspiring  awe  till  breath  itself  stands  still." 

Amid  this  terrific  Avar  of  the  elements  Pilmoor  and  Board- 
man  enjoyed  a  blissful  inward  serenity,  reminding  one  of 

Wordsworth's 

"  Central  Peace, 

Subsisting  at  the  heart  of  endless  agitation." 

They  stood  upon  the  dizzy  deck,  gazing  dauntlessly  upon 
the  wrathful  floods,  sustained  by  the  Everlasting  Arms.  "  In 
the  morning,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  when  I  went  upon  deck  and 
saw  the  danger  we  were  in,  instantly  my  heart  was  filled  with 
the  pure  love  of  God  and  all  fear  of  death  and  hell  was  en- 
tirely taken  away.  I  had  not  a  shadow  of  a  doubt  of  my  ac- 
ceptance, and  was  fully  assured  if  I  died  then  I  should  be 
eternally  happy  with  God.  And  this  continued  all  the  day, 
nor  did  it  ever  forsake  me  during  the  storm.  Of  all  the  days 
of  my  life  this  was  by  far  the  most  happy.  My  soul  was 
more  resigned  to  all  the  dispensations  of  Providence  than 
ever  it  had  been  before  and  life  or  death  was  equal.  Surely 
the  goodness  of  God  is  infinite  and  His  mercy  is  upon  them 
9 


130  THE   WESLEYAN  MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 

that  fear  Him.     Being  thus  blessed  my  heart  was  embold- 
ened and  I  conld  say : 

«*  <  When  passing  through  the  wateiy  deep 

I  ask  in  faith  His  promised  aid  ; 
The  waves  an  awful  distance  keep 

And  shrink  from  my  devoted  head ; 
Fearless  their  violence  I  dare, 

They  cannot  harm  while  God  is  there.' " 

Of  his  experience  in  this  storm  Boardman  wrote  to  Mr. 
Wesley :  "  When  it  appeared  impossible  that  the  vessel 
should  live  long  amid  the  conflicting  elements  I  found  myself 
exceedingly  happy.  I  do  not  remember  to  have  had  one 
doubt   of  being  eternally  saved  should  the  mighty  waters 

swallow  us  up." 

The  ship  came  to  land  on  October  20,  1769,  and  the  next 
day  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  disembarked  at  Gloucester  Point, 
N.  J..   f«nii-  miles  south  of  Philadelphia.     Lee,  Bangs  and 
Stevens,  in  tlnir  histories  of  American  Methodism,  give  the 
date  of  the  landing  at  Gloucester  as  the  24th  of  that  month. 
Pilmoor  says  it  was  on  the  tiventy-jirst  of  October  that  they 
stepped  for  the  first  time  upon  the  shore  of  the  Delaware. 
Their  devout  feelings  broke  forth  into  thanksgivings  as  they 
set  their  feet  upon  this  Western  Continent,  whose  destinies 
were  to  be  affected  by  their  labors  and  with  whose  religious 
'  history  their  names  were  to  be  indelibly  interwoven.     "  When 
we  got  on  shore  we  joined  in  a  doxology,"  says  Pilmoor, 
"  and  gave  praise  to  God  for  our  deliverance  and  all  the  mer- 
cies bestowed  upon  us  during  the  passage.     When  we  had 
rested  a  little  while  at  a  public  house  Mr.  Boardman  and  I 
walked  up  to  the  city." 

Tlie  Pennsylvania  Gazette  of  November  2,  1769,  has  the 
following  advertisement  of  the  return  voyage  of  the  ship 
which  earned  Pilmoor  and  Boardman  over  the  Atlantic  : 


"  The  Ship 


«  For  LONDON 

"MAKY  and  ELIZABETH, 
*' JAMES  SPAKKS,   Master, 


pilmoor' S   EARLY   LIFE 


131 


**Is  a  good  ship  and  has  extraordinary  accommodations  for  passen- 
gers  ;  part  of  her  cargo  ready  to  go  on  board,  and  will  sail  with  all  con- 
venient speed.  For  freight  or  passage  apply  to  John  Head,  the  Master 
on  board,  or  at  the  London  Coffee  House." 

While  the  two  missionaries  are  walking  from  their  place 
of  landing  to  Philadelphia,  let  us  scan  more  minutely  their 
previous  history. 

Joseph  Pilmoor  was  born  in  Yorkshire,  England.  Lock- 
wood,  in  his  work  on  Boardman  and  Pilmoor,  entitled  "  The 
Western  Pioneers,"  gives  the  date  of  Pilmoor's  birth  as  Octo- 
ber 31,  1739.  The  Kev.  Eichard  D.  Hall,  of  Philadelphia, 
who  knew  Pilmoor  well  and  was  a  convert  of  his  ministry, 
gives  the  time  of  his  birth  as  "  about  the  year  1734"  ^  The 
Kev.  S.  P.  Hotchkin,  in  a  sketch  of  Pilmoor  in  the  Sfo.ndard 
of  the  Cross,  Philadelphia,  of  March  16,  1889,  says  he  "  died 
in  his  eighty-sixth  year,  July  24,  1825."  This  is  almost  in 
accord  with  Lockwood's  date  of  his  birth.  Hall  gives  the 
same  date  of  his  death,  but  says  he  was  then  in  his  ninety- 
first  vear.  The  same  date  of  his  decease  is  inscribed  on  his 
tomb,  and  his  age  given  the^-eon  is  eighty-seven.  His  con- 
version is  said  to  have  occurred  when  he  was  sixteen  years 
old,  through  the  agency  of  the  Wesleyan  evangelists.  Hall 
attributes  Pilmoor's  conversion  to  the  instrumentality  of 
Mr.  Wesley,  and  also  says  Wesley  gave  him  a  place  in  his 
school  at  Kingswood,  where  he  studied  Enghsh  literature  and 
also  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew.  He  presented  Hall  with  a 
Hebrew  grammar  which  was  compiled  by,  and  contained  the 
autograph  of,  Mr.  Wesley.  Pilmoor's  school  life  continued 
at  Kingswood,  according  to  Hall,  for  three  or  four  years, 
after  which  Wesley  sent  him  forth  as  one  of  his  "  helpers." 
He  preached  acceptably  and  successfully  in  many  parts  of 
England  "and  through  all  the  counties  of  South  Wales." 
He  was  useful,  it  is  said,  among  the  higher  orders  of  society, 
and  enjoyed  the  kindness  of  Lady  Huntingdon  and  Lady 

Maxwell. 

In  the  beginning  of  his  religious  life  Pilmoor  was  much 
benefited  by  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Conyers,  who  was  a  clergy- 

*  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit,  vol.  v. 


132 


THE    WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN    AMERICA 


man  of  the  Church  of  England.  He  held  Sociniau  opinions, 
but  came  to  the  experience  of  a  Scriptural  conversion,  and 
thenceforth  was  exceedingly  evangelical  in  his  teaching. 
Then  his  ministry  became  very  successful,  and  he  gathered 
his  numerous  converts  into  classes.  Pilmoor  refers  to  Con- 
yers  in  his  Journal,  under  the  date  of  April  4,  1772,  thus  : 
"  After  spending  the  morning  in  study  I  was  glad  to  embrace 
an  opportunity  of  writing  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Conyers  in  York- 
shire, who  was  of  infinite  service  to  me  when  I  set  my  face 
toward  Heaven  and  resolved  to  run  the  appoiuted  race.  His 
ministry  was  so  blessed  to  my  soul  that  I  believe  I  shall  have 
reason  to  praise  God  on  his  account  to  all  eternity." 

The  precise  time  when  Pilmoor  went  forth  as  a  member 
of  Wesley's  itinerancy  is  not  certainly  known.  He  held,  ac- 
cording to  Hall,  a  certificate  signed  by  Mr.  Wesley  which 
represented  him  "  as  having  grace,  gifts  and  success."  Of 
hiii!  "  the  first  record  in  the  official  minutes  is  1765,  when 
Joseph  Pilmoor  is  received  on  trial,  but  has  no  appointment ; 
while  in  1766  his  name  appears  among  those  who  are  ad- 
mitted, and  he  is  stationed  in  Cornwall."  In  1767  his  appoint- 
ment was  Wales,  and  in  1768  he  was  returned  to  the  same 
field. 

The  statistics  in  the  minutes  of  the  British  Conference 
reveal  numerical  progress  in  Wales  during  Pilmoor's  minis- 
try there.  The  published  narrative  of  his  service  in  that  field 
shows  that  he  was  zealous  and  laborious.  One  of  the  inci- 
dents of  his  ministry  there  was  an  indignity  he  received  from 
a  minister.  "  While  I  was  preaching  "  he  says,  *'  a  clergy- 
man and  two  or  three  of  his  companions  got  behind  a  wall, 
aud  threw  several  eggs,  but  they  missed  their  mark  and  I 
concluded  in  peace."*  Brave,  cultured,  unctuous,  eloquent, 
and  of  commanding  voice  and  presence  Pilmoor  was  an 
approved  instrument,  a  workman  that  needed  not  to  be 
ashamed.  , 

Richard  Boardman's  early  history  is  involved  in  obscu- 

*  Narrative  of  LaV>ors  in  Soith  Wales,  performed  partly  in  company  with  the 
Rev.  John  Wesley,  in  the  years  1767-08,  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Pilmore,  D.D.  Phila- 
delphia, 1825.     While  he  was  a  Wesleyan  preacher  here  he  spelled  his  name  Pil- 


moor. 


boardman's  early  work  and  character     133 

rity.     Only  glimpses  of  his  career  prior  to  his  American  voy- 
age can  be  obtained.     Even  the  place  of  his  birth  is  uncer- 
tain.    Lockwood  says  he  "  is  supposed  by  well  sustained  tra- 
dition to  have  been  born  at  Gillimoor,  but  the  most  careful 
research  has  failed  to  furnish   any  authentic  record  of  his 
early  religious  life.     He  entered  the  ministry  about  1763  and 
travelled  successively  in  the  Grimsby,  Limerick,  and  Cork 
circuits,  closing  this  period  of  his  labors  in  the  picturesque 
tract  of  country  known  as  the  Dales  circuit.    Here  the  primi- 
tive evangelists   had  to   prosecute  their  arduous  toils  amid 
peculiar  difficulties,  crossing  the  lofty  mountains  and  thread- 
ing the  numerous  ravines    which  intersect   the  counties   of 
Yorkshire,  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland."*     His  appoint- 
ment in  1767  was  York  ;  in  1768  Dales.     From  Lockwood 
we  learn   that   Boardman's   wife  Olive,  and   their   daughter 
Mary,  died  in  January,  1769.     Lockwood  quotes  a  quarterly 
meetinix  record  of  monev  of  the  amount  of  two  pounds  and 
two  shillings  paid  to  Boardman  for  the  burial  of  his  wife. 
Thus  in  the  grief  of  a  double  bereavement  he  responded  to 
the  call  to  come  over  the  Atlantic.     Wesley,  as  extant  docu- 
ments show,  recognized  Boardman's   worth  and  talents.     A 
high  authority  has  described  him  as  "  a  man  of  great  piety, 
of  an  amiable  disposition,  and  possessed  of  a  strong  under- 
standing ;  "  and  also  as  "  greatly  beloved  and  universally  re- 
spected wherever  his  lot  was  cast."  t 

We  are  now  to  see  the  two  missionaries  entering  upon 
their  American  labors.  "Here,"  says  an  early  Methodist 
writer,  *'  commenced  a  new  era  in  Methodism.  The  societies 
w^hich  were  hitherto  independent  of  each  other  were  now 
united  to  the  societies  in  England,  and  received  travelling 
preachers  from  Mr.  Wesley." 

*  The  Western  Pioneers,  by  John  P.  Lockwood,  London,  1881. 
t  The  Methodist  Memorial,  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Atmore. 


CHAPTER  11. 


BOARDMAN  AND   PILMOOR  AT   WORK   IN  AMERICA. 

The  first  missionaries  appointed  to  America  by  the  Kev. 
John  Wesley  reached  Philadelphia  on  or  about  the  twenty- 
first  day  of  October,  1769.  "On  that  day,  at  least,  they  came 
on  shore  at  Gloucester  Point,  and  after  resting  ''a  little  while 
at  a  public  house,"  they  walked  to  Philadelphia. 

"We  will  here  pause  to  glance  at  the  city  and  the  country 
which  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  entered  nine  weeks  after  their 
embarkation  at  London. 

Philadelphia  in  1769  was  the  commercial  and  social  me- 
tropolis of  America  and  in  177-4  became  the  seat  of  the  Colo- 
nial Congress.  Not  until  a  half  century  later  did  New  York 
become  its  equal  in  population.  There  were  in  Philadelphia 
in  1769,  it  is  said,  4,471  houses  with  30,000  inhabitants.-  It 
was  the  home  of  Benjamin  Frankhn,  whose  great  fame  as  a 
philosopher  had  shed  enduring  lustre  upon  the  country. 
There  was  the  library  which  he  founded  and  which  had  de- 
veloped into  a  centre  of  literature  for  the  city.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  was  also  there,  and  its  long-famed 
school  of  medicine  was  founded  in  1765.  Dr.  Eush,  distin- 
guished as  a  citizen,  a  physician,  and  a  statesman,  was  in  1769 
delivering  medical  lectures  in  that  school.  The  State  house, 
now  known  as  Independence  Hall,  stood  then,  as  it  stands 
now,  on  Chestnut  Street.  Commenced  in  1729,  the  main 
structure  was  completed  in  1734.  The  right  and  left  wings 
were  added  hi  1739-40.  There  were  also  other  public  build- 
ings, and  commodious  churches. 

Philadelphia,  Boston,  and  New  York  in  1769  comprised 
nearly  all  the  important  cities  of  the  continent.     Washington 

*  Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  xxxi.,  p.  134. 


AMERICA   IN   1769 


136 


City  did  not  exist  until  above  twenty  years  later.  Baltimore 
was  scarcely  forty  years  old,  and  in  1752  had  only  200  popu- 
lation. The  great  western  cities  had  not  been  founded  when 
Boardman  and  Pilmoor  came  hither,  save  St.  Louis,  which 
was  then  rising  into  prominence  as  a  centre  of  the  fur  trade 
of  the  Missouri.  Illinois  did  not  then  contain  over  1,500 
inhabitants.  Now  its  leading  city  has  a  great  population, 
and  was  the  seat  of  the  world's  Columbian  Exposition.  Yin- 
cennes  was  then  the  only  settlement  in  Indiana,  with  less 
than  500  people.  We  are  told  that  John  Finley,  a  back- 
woodsman of  North  Carolina,  in  1768  passed  through  Ken- 
tucky and  failed  to  discover  a  single  white  man's  cabin  "  in 
all  tiie  enchanting  wilderness."  The  site  of  the  city  of  Lex- 
ington was  covered  with  trees  until  1780.*  The  total  popula- 
tion of  the  territory  which  now  forms  the  great  States  of 
Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee  was  hardly  three  thousand, 
and  that  of  all  the  colonies  in  1769  probably  did  not  much 
exceed  two  and  a  half  millions.  They  mostly  dwelt  along 
the  bays,  rivers,  and  inlets  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  the 
settlements  probably  did  not  reach  un  the  average  over  a 
hundred  miles  from  the  sea.  As  late  as  1802  Marietta  con- 
tained somewhat  above  two  hundred  houses  and  was  one  of 
the  largest  towns  in  the  State  of  Ohio. 

American  life  in  1769  was  chiefly  rural.  "  The  western 
villages  abounded  in  wheat,  Indian  corn,  and  swine,"  with  a 
sufticiency  of  beef  cattle.  Trade  was  burdened  with  tli.  cost 
of  transportation.  All  English  goods  sent  Avestward  were 
made  dear  by  the  expense  of  land  carriage  from  Philadelphia 
to  Fort  Pitt,  now  Pittsburg.  The  distance  is  300  miles,  and 
in  1802  the  road  was  described  as  lying  through  ''  a  country 
whose  hillv  surface,  covered  with  dark  forests,  gives  it  the 
appearance  of  an  agitated  sea." 

The  simple  machines  for  breaking  flax  and  spinning  and 
weaving  wool  were  in  common  use  in  the  homes  of  the  people 
in  1769,  and  the  garments  they  wore  were  as  a  rule  wholly 
manufactured  by  wives,  and  mothers,  and  daughters.  The 
mechanic  arts  in  use  here  were  simple  and  few,  and  literature 

*  Edinburgh  Review,  vol  vii.,  p-  159. 


136 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


had  hardly  begun  to  bud.  Jefferson  indeed  wrote,  as  late  as 
1807,  that  "  our  countrymen  are  so  much  occupied  with  the  busy 
scenes  of  life  that  they  have  little  time  to  write  or  invent."* 

Yet  the  period  of  the  arrival  of  the  first  two  Wesleyan 
missionaries  was  a  golden  age  of  American  intellect.  Prince- 
ton College  was  already  a  power  in  the  land.  Eutgers  was 
established  at  New  Brunswick  in  New  Jersey,  William  and 
Mary  in  Virginia,  Columbia  College  in  New  York  City,  and 
with  Harvard  in  Massachusetts,  Yale  in  Connecticut,  and  the 
University  in  Philadelphia  were  training  men  for  intellectual 
leadership.  About  1709  Dartmouth  College  developed  in 
New  Hampshire  from  the  Kev.  Eleazar  AVheelock's  Indian 
boys'  school  in  Connecticut.  The  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  one  of 
its  trustees  and  the  custodian  of  the  funds  which  were  re- 
ceived for  it  from  England,  was,  it  is  said,  a  friend  of  John 
Wesley  and  a  Method ist.t  Washington  and  Jefferson  were 
then  in  the  Virginia  Legislature,  and  with  Otis,  Ames,  and 
Adams  were  developing  into  greatness.  Jonathan  Edwaids  had 
closed  his  illustrious  career.  Patrick  Henry  was  the  foremost 
orator  of  his  time,  and  Franklin  was  a  celebrity  in  two  hemi- 
spheres. The  Edinburgh  Eeview  in  1817  declared  in  a  leading 
article  that  "  in  one  point  of  view  the  name  of  Franklin  must 
be  considered  as  standing  higher  than  any  of  tlie  others  which 
illustrated  the  eighteenth  century.  Distinguished  as  a  states- 
man, he  was  equally  great  as  a  philosopher ;  thus  uniting  in 
himself  a  rare  degree  of  excellence  in  both  those  pursuits  to 
excel  in  either  of  which  is  deemed  the  highest  praise.  Frank- 
lin would  have  been  entitled  to  the  glory  of  a  first-rate  dis- 
coverer in  science — one  who  had  largely  extended  the  bounds 
of  human  knowledge — although  he  had  not  stood  second  to 
Washington  alone  in  gaining  for  human  liberty  the  most 
splendid  and  guiltless  of  its  triumphs."  Seventeen  years  be- 
fore the  arrival  of  Boardman  and  Pilmoor,  Franklin  achieved 
his  great  discovery  of  the  identity  of  lightning  with  electricity 
which  spread  his  fame  over  the  civilized  world. 

The  clouds  of  revolution  already  gloomed  the  sky.     The 

*  Memoirs,  Correspondence,  and  Miscellanies  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  vol.  iv.  p.  3.S. 
t  A  Concise  History  of  the  American  People.     By  Jacob  Harris  Patton,  A.M. 


SIGNS   OF   REVOLUTION 


137 


resistance  to  English  taxation  was  fast  turning  the  colonies 
into  rebellion.  The  year  1763  has  been  regarded  as  the  he- 
ginning  of  the  revolutionary  epoch,  because  in  that  year  the 
British  ministry  determined  upon  securing  revenues  from 
the  American  colonies  by  taxing  them.  In  1765  the  Stamp 
Act  passed  the  English  Parliament.  It  produced  excitement 
in  America.  The  New  York  newspapers  denounced  the  law 
and  opposition  to  it  was  general  and  determined.  In  1766 
the  Act  was  repealed,  and  the  event  brought  great  joy  to  the 
colonies.  Still  England  was  fixed  in  its  policy  of  gathering 
revenues  from  the  Americans,  to  which  the  latter  were  un- 
compromisingly hostile.  The  very  month  the  Wesleyan  mis- 
sionaries landed  in  New  Jersey  (October,  1769)  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  that  province  passed  a  resolution  of  thanks 
to  the  merchants  and  traders  of  the  colony,  and  to  the  col- 
onies of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  for  their  patriotism 
displayed  "  in  Avithholding  importations  of  British  merchan- 
dize until  the  restrictive  acts  of  Parliament  be  repealed." '- 

The  public  journals  of  that  period  show  that  this  was  a 
chief  topic  of  thought  and  speech  in  the  country  in  1769. 
Meetings  were  held,  resolutions  were  adopted  and  printed, 
and  leagues  were  formed  with  reference  to  the  exciting  con- 
troversy. In  England  also  there  was  considerable  popular  in- 
terest in  the  subject.  The  ship  which  brought  the  Wesleyan 
missionaries  hither  at  the  same  time  brought  a  letter  which 
appears  to  have  been  addressed  by  a  Quaker  to  George  III., 
and  was  published  in  a  London  Journal.  The  Pennsylvania 
Journal  and  Weekly  Advertiser  of  Philadelphia,  in  its  issue  of 
Thursday,  October  26, 1769,  says :  "Monday  last  arrived  Cap- 
tain Sparks  from  London  f  by  whom  we  have  the  following 
advices :  From  the  London  Gazetteer  and  New  Daily  Adver- 

tiser  ' 

*<■  Uth  of  the  8tli  month  1769. 

"  Friend  G 

"I  have  heard  that  thy  faithful  subject  and  friend  George 
Whitefield  is  soon  going  over  to  America ;  his  conversations 

*  History  of  New  Jersey,  by  J.  R.  Sypher  and  E.  A.  Apgar,  p.  97. 
+  The  sliip  came  to  land  at  Gloucester  Saturday,  October  21st.    It  appears  the 
Captain  brought  it  to  Philadelphia,  Monday  the  23d. 


138 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


and  orations  have  a  great  influence  in  that  country.  Wouldst 
thou  not  do  well  to  consult  with  honest  George,  and  if  thou 
hast  thoughts  of  easing  the  Americans  (as  some  writers  affirm) 
canst  thou  find  a  better  man  to  communicate  thy  intentions 
by.  All  he  says  will  be  credited,  and  all  he  says  from  thine 
own  resolutions  communicated  to  him  will  have  great  weight 
and  perhaps  bring  about  a  revolution  that  will  be  to  thy  peo- 
ple's contentment  and  thine  own  reputation." 


Keligious  institutions  had  existed  in  the  American  colo- 
nies long  before  1769.  The  churches  were  generally  Calvin- 
istic.  '*  The  pilgrims  of  Plymouth,"  says  Bancroft,  "  were 
Calvinists  ;  the  best  influence  of  South  Carolina  came  from 
the  Calvinists  of  France  :  William  Penn  was  the  disciple  of 
the  Huguenots :  the  ships  of  Holland  that  first  brought  col- 
onists to  Manhattan  w^ere  filled  with  Calvinists."  In  the 
middle  colonies  the  Presbyterians  were  considerably  numer- 
ous. In  New  England  the  Puritan  element  held  sway  and 
the  churches  w^ere  mostly  of  the  Congregational  Order,  but 
there  were  also  Baptists  and  Quakers.  In  the  South  the 
Baptists  were  somewhat  numerous,  but  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land was  the  principal  ecclesiastical  organization  there.  It 
also  had  adherents  and  influential  churches  in  the  northern 
colonies,  especially  in  the  cities.  In  Philadelphia  particu- 
larly, and  in  contiguous  places,  there  were  many  Quakers. 
The  Roman  Catholics  were  also  here  but  not  notably  numer- 
ous, except  in  the  province  of  Maryland. 

In  portions  of  the  country  there  was  much  ignorance  re- 
specting true  religion  and  a  dearth  ui  Christian  preaching  and 
ordinances.  This  was  particularly  true  of  much  of  the  South. 
The  Rev.  Devereux  Jarrett,  an  Episcopal  clergyman  of  Vir- 
ginia, says  that  when  he  was  chosen  rector  of  the  Bath  parish 
in  the  county  of  Dinwiddle,  in  1763,  "  ignorance  and  profane- 
ness  prevailed  among  all  ranks  and  degrees  "  in  its  bounds, 
"  so  that  I  doubt  if  even  the  form  of  godliness  was  to  be  found 
in  one  family  of  this  large  and  populous  parish."  Jarratt  pro- 
claimed the  evangelical  truths  to  the  people,  but  he  says  "my 
doctrines  were  quite  new  to  them,  and  were  neither  preached 


NEED   OF   A  RELIGIOUS  AWAKENING 


139 


nor  believed  by  any  other  clergyman,  so  far  as  I  could  learn, 
throughout  the  province."*  After  a  decade  had  passed  he 
wrote  to  Mr.  Wesley  in  1773  :  "We  have  ninety-five  parishes 
in  the  colony  and  all  except  one  I  believe  are  supplied  with 
clergymen.  But  alas  !  you  will  imderstand  the  rest.  I  know 
of  but  one  clergyman  of  the  Chui'ch  of  England  who  appears 
to  have  the  power  and  spirit  of  vital  religion.  All  seek  their 
own  and  not  the  things  that  are  Christ's.  Is  not  our  situa- 
tion then  truly  deplorable  ?  "t  In  North  Carolina  there  was 
great  destitution  of  religious  teaching  and  ordinances.  Pil- 
moor  was  himself  in  that  province  in  1772  and  found  a 
lamentable  lack  of  preachers.  ''  It  is,"  he  says,  "  200  miles 
v/ide  and  is  settled  near  400  miles  in  length,  and  the  church 
established  as  in  England,  yet  in  all  this  country  there  are 
but  eleven  ministers."  Madison  in  Virginia  wrote  in  1774  : 
"  Poverty  and  luxury  prevail  among  all  sects  ;  pride,  igno- 
rance and  knavery  among  the  priesthood,  and  vice  and  wicked- 
ness among  the  laity." 

Respecting  the  low  condition  of  religion  and  morals  m 
the  Episcopal  Church  in  this  country  in  those  early  times,  a 
clergyman  has  offered  the  following  remarks  :  "  There  has 
existed  a  special  reason  for  this  deadness  in  the  Episcopal 
Church.  This  church  sprung  from  the  Church  of  England. 
It  was  established  in  this  country  by  the  English.  Con- 
sequently all  the  evils  incident  to  a  union  between  church 
and  state  were  transplanted  along  with  it.  The  moment  the 
American  Revolution  broke  us  loose  from  the  mother  country, 
however,  causes  were  put  in  operation  to  liberate  us  from 
those  evils  which  were  manifestly  incidental."  t 

In  the  middle  and  eastern  provinces  there  was  better  pro- 
vision for  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  people  than  in  most  parts 
of  the  South,  yet  even  there  in  sections  remote  from  the 
populous  centres  there  was  much  need  of  religious  facilities 
and  agencies.     Boardman  made  a  lengthened  tour,  and  says  : 

*  A  Brief  Narrative  of  the  revival  of  religion  in  Virginia.    In  a  letter  to  a  friend. 
London,  1778. 

+  Arminian  Magazine,  p.  379.     London,  1778. 

X  A  Walk  about  Zion ;  by  the  Rev.  John  A.  Clark,  D.D.,  p.  59.    New  York,1842. 


140 


THE    WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   A3fElUCA 


*'  Tke  rides  are  long,  the  roads  bad,  and  the  living  very  poor. 
In  the  greater  part  of  this  round  the  people  were  wicked  and 
ignorant  to  a  most  lamentable  degree,  destitute  of  the  fear 
and  regardless  of  the  worship  of  God."  * 

There  was  much  spiritual  apathy  in  the  eastern  provinces. 
Eespecting  the  churches  of  New  England,  the  biogi'apher 
of  President  Edwards  says  :  "So  vast  a  proportion  of  the 
lirst  planters  of  this  country  were  members  of  the  Christian 
church,  that  not  to  be  a  church  member  was  a  public  dis- 
grace, and  no  man  who  had  not  this  qualification  was  consid- 
ered capable  of  holding  any  civil  office.  The  children  of  the 
tirst  planters,  with  comparatively  few  exceptions,  followed  the 
example  of  their  parents  and  enrolled  their  names  in  the 
church  calendar ;  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  a  large 
proi)ortion  of  them  were  possessed  of  real  piety.  Still  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  a  considerable  number  of  them  were  of 
a  different  character.  In  the  third  and  fourth  generations  the 
number  of  this  latter  class  increased  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
constitute,  if  not  a  majority,  yet  a  large  minority  of  the  whole 
population.  But  such  is  the  influence  of  national  customs  it 
was  still  thought  as  necessary  to  a  full  qualification  for  office 
to  make  a  public  profession  of  religion  as  before ;  and  the 
church,  by  thus  inclosing  within  its  pale  the  whole  rising  gen- 
eration, gathered  in  a  prodigious  number  of  hypocrites,  and 
to  make  a  profession  of  religion  began  to  be  on  the  part  of 
numbers  an  act  of  the  same  import  as  it  has  been  on  the  part 
of  the  civil,  military,  and  naval  officers  of  England,  '  to  qual- 
ify '  by  partaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper." 

Into  this  great  country,  which  was  yet  to  receive  its  na- 
tional form,  and  to  become  the  chief  theatre  of  evangelical 
Protestantism,  Piichard  Boardman  and  Joseph  l*ilmoor  came 
in  the  fall  of  1769  to  make  a  contribution  to  it  of  Christian 
influence,  truth,  and  service  of  which  it  was  in  sore  need. 
Amid  the  already  audible,  though  distant,  thunder  of  the 
gathering  Revolutionary  tempest,  they  entered  the  land  as 
divinely  sent  messengers  of  peace.     They  did  not  avert  the 

*  Letter  of  Richard  Boardman  to  Mrs.  Mary  Thorn ;  in  Lockvvood's  Western 
Fioneers. 


THE  MISSIONARIES   IN   PHILADELPHIA 


141 


storm,  but  they  did  their  part  in  preparing  the  colonies  to 
abide  it.  Their  coming  was  altogether  opportune,  and  their 
work,  as  we  shall  see,  was  fruitful  of  important  and  enduring 

results. 

The  two  missionaries  received  very  courteous  attention 

from  Captain  Sparks  during  their  voyage,  and  when  they 
reached  Philadelphia  he  cordially  welcomed  them  to  his 
home,  and  they  were  hospitably  entertained  by  him  and  Mrs. 
Sparks.  Of  the  captain's  courtesy  and  hospitality  Pilmoor 
remarks  :  "  His  generosity  at  the  last  was  truly  noble.  May 
our  God  and  Saviour  abundantly  reward  and  bless  him  for 
all  his  kindness  to  us  in  time  and  eternity." 

It  was  the  intention  of  the  missionaries  to  proceed  imme- 
diately to  New  York,  for  they  were  not  aware  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  Methodist  society  in  Philadelphia.  The  zealous 
military  preacher,  however,  had  planted  Methodism  there  m 
a  sail-loft  a  year  or  two  previously. 

While  walking  in  a  Philadelphia  street,  the  newly  ar- 
rived preachers  were  accosted  by  a  man  ^vho  had  been  a 
Methodist  in  Ireland,  where  he  had  seen  Mr.  Boardman. 
He  told  them  intelligence  of  their  arrival  had  been  re- 
ceived and  that  he  was  then  out  seeking  them.  He  took 
them  to  his  home.  Thus  Irish  Methodism,  which  gave  ori- 
gin to  the  Wesleyan  movement  in  America,  was,  through  one 
of  its  sons,  the  first  to  hail  and  welcome  to  the  country  Mr. 
Wesley's  first  missionaries. 

Captain  Webb  had  been  some  days  in  Philadelphia 
when  they  arrived,  and  it  was  his  privilege  to  greet  them, 
perhaps  in  the  home  of  the  Irishman  where  they  were  tem- 
porary guests.  Of  their  first  interview  with  Webb,  Pilmoor 
says  :  "  In  a  little  while  Captain  Webb  came  to  us  and  gave 
us  a  hearty  welcome  to  America.  Our  souls  rejoiced  to 
meet  with  such  a  valiant  soldier  of  Jesus  in  this  distant 
land,  especially  as  he  was  a  real  Methodist."  In  the  even- 
ing they  attended  St.  Paul's  church,  and  heard  "  a  very  use- 
ful sermon  on  '  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world.'  "  The  next  day  they  opened  their  mis- 
sion    with  a  sermon  by  Boardman  "  to  a  small  but  serious 


142 


THE    WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


congregation,  on  the  call  of  Abraham  to  go  forth  into  the  land 
of  Canaan."  The  following  day  Boardman  started  for  New 
York,  leaving  Pilmoor  in  Philadelphia  "  to  try  what  might 
be  done  for  the  honor  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  immortal 

souls." 

Of  his  journey  to  and  arrival  in  New  York  Boardman 
promptly  wrote  to  Mr.  Wesley,  under  the  date  of  November 
4,  1769,  saying  :  "  When  I  came  to  Philadelphia  I  found  a    | 
little  society  and  preached  to  a  great  number  of  people.     I 
left  brother  Pilmoor  there  and  set  out  for  New  York.     Com- 
ing to   a  large  town    on   my   way,  and  seeing  a  barrack,  I 
asked  a  soldier  if  there  were  any  Methodists  belonging  to 
it'^     'Oh,  yes,'  said  he,  'we  are  all  Methodists,  that  is,  we   j 
should  all  be  glad  to  hear  a  Methodist  preach.'     '  Well,'  said 
I,  '  tell  them  in  the  barrack  that  a  Methodist  preacher  just  j] 
come  from  England  intends  to  preach  here  to-night.'     He  did 
so,  and  the  inn  was  soon  surrounded  with  soldiers.     I  asked, 
'  Where  do  you  think  I  can  get  a  place  to  preach  in  ?  '  (it  be- 
ing then  dark).     One  of  them  said, '  I  will  go  and  see  if  I  can  ^ 
get  the  Presbyterian  Meeting  House.'     He  did  so,  and  soon 
returned  to  tell  me  he  had  prevailed,  and  that  the  bell  was 
just  going  to  ring  to  let  all  the  town  know.    A  great  company 
soon  got  together  and  seemed  much  affected.     The  next  day  , 
I  came  to  New  York."     Thus  this  herald  of  grace,  who,  while 
he  was  on  his  way  to  embark  for  Philadelphia,  proclaimed  the 
word  which  was  so  fruitful  of  blessing  to  Mary  Eedfern  — and 
through  her  to  her  great  son,  Jabez  Bunting,  and  through 
him  to  England  and  the  world— now  in  America,  sowed  "  be- 
side all  waters." 

The  condition  of  the  Wesleyan  work  in  New  York,  was 
found  by  the  missionary  to  be  very  hopeful.  "  Our  house," 
he  erroneously  says,  "contains  about  seventeen  hundred 
hearers."  Such  a  multitude  could  not  have  been  in  any 
manner,  nor  even  the  half  thereof,  seated  within  its  walls. 
To  what  this  obvious  error  is  due — whether  to  the  haste  and 
oversight  of  the  writer  or  to  a  mistake  of  the  printer  we 
know  not.  Dr.  Stevens  adopts  the  suggestion  that  the  num- 
ber intended  to  be  given  by  Boardman  was  seven  rather  than 


METHODISM   AND   COLOKED   PEOPLE 


143 


seventeen  hundred.  Even  that  number  would  have  been  an 
extravagant  estimate  of  the  chapel's  capacity.  "  About  a 
third  of  those  who  attend  the  preaching,"  continues  Board- 
man,  "  get  in,  the  rest  are  glad  to  hear  without.  There  ap- 
pears  such  a  willingness  in  the  Americans  to  hear  the  Word 
as  I  never  saw  before.  They  have  no  preaching  m  some 
parts  of  the  back  settlements.  I  doubt  not  but  an  effectual 
door  will  be  opened  among  them.  Oh,  may  He  now  give  His 
Son  the  heathen  for  His  inheritance. 

.  "  The  number  of  blacks  that  attend  the  preaching  affects 
/  me  much.  One  of  them  came  to  tell  me  she  could  neither 
[  eat  nor  sleep,  because  her  master  would  not  suffer  her  to 
come  to  hear  the  word.  She  wept  exceedingly,  saying,  '  I 
told  my  master  I  would  do  more  work  than  ever  I  used  to  do 
if  he  would  but  let  me  come ;  nay,  that  I  would  do  every- 
thmg  in  my  power  to  be  a  good  servant.' 

"  I  find  a  great  want  of  every  gift  and  grace  for  the  great 
work  before  me.  I  should  be  glad  of  your  advice.  But, 
dear  sir,  what  shall  I  say  to  almost  everyone  I  see  ?  They 
ask.  Does  Mr.  Wesley  think  he  shall  come  over  to  see  us  ? 

John  Wesley  seems  to  have  considered  seriously  Board- 
man's  question.     He  wrote  to  the  Kev.  Walter  Sellon,  from 
London,   December   30,  1769-probably   after  he  re™d 
Boardman's  letter-and  said  :  "  It  is  not  determined  whether 
I  should  go  to  America  or  not.     I  have  been  importuned  for 
'   some  time,  but  nil  satfirmi  video.     I  must  have  a  clear  call 
before  I  am  at  liberty  to  leave  Europe."     Almost  a  year  la  er 
he  was  still  thinking  of  coming  hither,  as  he  shows  m  a  letter 
of  December  14,  1770,  to  Mrs.  Marston,  the  autograph  orig- 
inal of  which,  suitably  framed,  was  presented  to  the  New 
^  York  Methodist  Preachers'  Meeting,  by  Bishop  Wilson,  of 
the  Keformed  Episcopal  Church,  through  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  O. 
Peck    on  the  centennial  of  Mr.  Wesley's  death,  March  2, 
189l' after  a  historical  address  by  the  author  of  this  work. 
In  that  letter  Wesley  says  :  "  If  I  live  till  spring,  and  have  a 
clear,  pressing  call,  I  am  as  ready  to  embark  for  America  as 
for  Ireland.     All  places  are  alike  to  me.     I  am  attached  to 
none  in  particular.     Wherever  the  work  of  the  Lord  is  to  be 


144 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


carried  on,  that  is  my  place  for  to-day.  And  we  live  only  for 
to-day  ;  it  is  not  our  part  to  take  thought  for  to-morrow." 
The  idea  of  sailing  to  America  was  still  in  Mr.  Wesley's 
mind  as  late  certainly  as  1773,  for  on  the  second  of  March  of 
that  year  he  wrote  Mr.  Asbury,  "  that  the  time  of  his  coming 
over  to  America  is  not  yet,  being  detained  by  the  building  of 
a  chapel."  *  The  "  clear  call  "  to  visit  America  seems  not  to 
liave  come  to  the  illustrious  evangelist  whose  parish  was  the 
world.  Had  he  been  convinced  that  duty  beckoned  him 
hither,  he  certainly  would  have  dared  the  storms  and  floods 
of  the  ocean,  notwithstanding  he  had  passed  the  life-mark  of 
"  three  score  years  and  ten."  He  wrote  to  Whitefield  as  we 
shall  see  of  the  appeals  he  received  from  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  to  visit  America,  and  of  his  serious  considera- 
tion of  the  same. 

Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  New  York,  Boardman  and  the 
authorities  of  the  society  made  a  compact  concerning  the 
labors  of  the  preachers  there  and  the  pecuniary  compensation 
they  should  receive.  This  compact  is  on  record  in  the  "  Old 
Book"  of  John  Street,  and  is  as  follows:  "Mr.  Kichard 
Boardman,  assistant  to  and  preacher  in  connection  with  the 
Rev.  John  Wesley,  also  Philip  Embury,  local  preacher,  and 
William  Lupton,  trustee  and  steward  (in  New  York),  think- 
ing it  necessary  that  some  regulations  should  be  made  for 
the  preachers  in  New  York,  agreed,  on  the  first  of  November, 
1769  :  First,  that  each  preacher,  having  labored  three  months 
in  New  York,  shall  receive  three  guineas  to  provide  them- 
selves with  wearing  apparel.  Secondly,  that  there  shall  be 
preaching  on  Sunday  morning  and  Sunday  evening  ;  also  on 
Ti^^sday  and  Thursday  evenings  ;  and  the  preacher  to  meet 
the  society  every  Wednesday  evening."  There  does  not  ap- 
pear to  be  extant  any  account  of  such  an  arrangement  with 
the  society  in  Philadelphia.  Pilmoor  says  nothing  of  an 
agreement  respecting  work  and  compensation  there.  The 
primitive  records  of  that  society,  unlike  those  of  New  York, 
did  not  escape  oblivion. 

In  the  evening  of  the  day  of  Boardman's  departure  for 

*  Asbury's  Journal,  vol.  i.,  p.  73. 


FIRST   AMERICAN    WESLEYAN   PREACHER 


145 


New  York,  Pilmoor  preached  in  Philadelphia.  He  describes 
his  congregation  as  "  fine  "  and  "  attentive,"  but  he  says  :  "  I 
was  greatly  straitened  in  my  own  mind,  and  felt  but  very  lit- 
tle freedom.  God  was  pleased  to  humble  me  by  leaving  me 
to  myself  and  made  me  ashamed  of  my  own  un worthiness. 
Others  may,  perhaps,  preach  very  fluently  and  with  great  ac- 
curacy without  any  assistance  from  above,  but  that  is  noth- 
ing to  me.  I  find  it  an  easy  matter  to  talk^  but  to  preach  the 
gospel  with  the  Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  heaven  is  widely 
different."  Pilmoor  became  quickly  and  fully  employed  in 
ministerial  labor. 

It  has  heretofore  been  held  that  William  Watters  was 
the  first  Methodist  itinerant  in  America  and  that  Richard 
O wings,  otherwise  called  Owen,  was  a  preacher  before  him. 
ill  his  '*  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  "  Dr. 
Abel  Stevens  says  Richard  Owen  was  "  the  first  native  Metho- 
dist preacher  of  the  Continent,  who  labored  faithfully  and 
successfully  as  a  local  preacher  for  some  years."  Pilmoor's 
Journal  shows  that  there  was  a  laborer  in  the  American 
Wesleyan  field  before  either  of  those  evangelists  appeared 
therein.  A  man,  hitherto  almost  unknown  to  history,  ap- 
pears entitled  to  the  distinction  of  having  been  the  first  in 
the  vast  series  of  Methodist  preachers  thrust  forth  in  Amer- 
ica. Five  days  after  Pilmoor's  arrival,  namely,  on  October 
26,  1769,  in  Philadelphia  he  wrote  of  an  interview  with 
him  thus  :  "  I  spent  an  hour  in  the  morning  very  comfort- 
ably with  Edward  Evans,  an  old  disciple  of  Jesus,  and  one 
who  has  stood  fast  in  the  faith  for  nearly  thirty  years.  He 
is  a  man  of  good  understanding  and  sound  experience  in  the 
things  of  God,  and  his  conversation  was  both  entertaining 
and  profitable."  Evans,  according  to  Pilmoor,  was  a  con- 
vert of  Whitefield,  and  after  the  ari'ival  of  the  two  Wesleyan 
missionaries  he  became  united  with  them  in  fellowship  and 
labor.  He  was  closely  identified  with  the  Philadelphia  so- 
ciety, and  his  name  appears,  as  we  shall  see,  in  the  deed  of 
its  first  church.  He  preached  there  and  in  contiguous 
places,  and  he  especially  itinerated  in  New  Jersey.  He  died 
before  a  Conference  was  held  in  the  country,  and,  therefore, 
10 


146  THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 

had  no  opportunity  to  be  honored  with  a  record  in  the  of- 
ficial documents  of  the  new  movement.  We  shall  meet  him 
at  various  times  in  the  course  of  our  narrative. 

After  his  interview  with  Mr.  Evans,  Pilmoor,  in  company 
with  Captain  Webb,  called  upon  the  Eev.  Mr.  Stringer,  rector 
of  St.  Paul's,  who  received  them  very  courteously.  Pilmoor 
says  Mr.  Strmger's  ministry  had  been  "  greatly  blessed  in 
the  city  and  many  added  to  the  Church."  He  wrote  of 
him  to  Mr.  Wesley  in  a  way  which  suggests  that  he  was  not 
unknown  to  the  latter.  "  I  have  been  to  visit  Mr.  Stringer, 
who  is  very  well,"  says  Pilmoor  to  Wesley.  "  He  bears  a 
noble  testimony  to  our  blessed  Jesus,  and  I  hope  God  does 
bless  him."  Tt  is  suggested  in  the  London  Methodist  Maga- 
zine of  1818  (page  641)  that  Stringer  was  originally  a  Metho- 
dist preacher  but  was  ordained  in  the  Church  of  England. 
He  is  elsewhere  represented  as  having  come  to  Philadelphia 
with  a  recommendation  from  Whitefield,  and  it  is  also  re- 
lated that  St.  Paul's  Church  received  him  as  rector,  but  re- 
turned him  to  England  for  ordination  as  a  qualification  for 
filling  the  position.  He  seems  to  have  held  fraternal  rela- 
tions with  the  Methodists  in  Philadelphia. 


CHAPTEK  III. 

MINISTKY   OF   PILMOOR,    WEBB,   AND   WILLIAMS   IN    PHILADELPHIA 
IN   THE   FALL   OF   1769 — PURCHASE   OF   ST.   GEORGE's. 


The  first  Sunday  of  Pilmoor's  ministry  in  Philadelphia, 
October  29,  1769,  was  filled  with  activity.  At  seven  in  the 
morning  he  met  "  a  fine  congregation,"  to  whom  he  dis- 
coursed on  the  first  Psalm.  Afterward  he  went  to  St. 
Paul's  and  heard  a  "  profitable  sermon  by  Mr.  Stringer." 
Having  advertised  preaching  on  the  common  adjoining  the 
city  at  five  o'clock,  he  repaired  to  the  place,  where  he  found 
a  vast  multitude  of  people.  He  ascended  "  the  stage  erected 
for  the  horse  race  and  was  presently  surrounded  with  several 
thousands  of  genteel  persons,  who,"  he  says,  "  behaved  with 
the  utmost  attention  while  I  declared  Christ  Jesus  the  Proph- 
et, Priest,  and  King  of  his  people."  Stevens  says  Pilmoor 
opened  his  ministry  "  from  the  steps  of  the  old  State-house." 
This,  obviously,  is  an  error.  Pilmoor  mentions  only  three 
occasions  before  this  on  the  common,  that  he  preached  in  the 
city.  Two  were  in  the  evening,  the  other  at  seven  o'clock  on 
Sunday  morning,  and  he  gives  no  hint  that  any  one  of  these 
meetings  was  held  at  the  State-house. 

After  the  open-air  service  at  the  race-ground  Pilmoor 
met  the  little  society  in  their  "  own  room,  and  exhorted  them 
to  walk  worthy  of  their  high  calling."  He  closed  the  day 
with  this  record :  "  This  was  the  first  Sabbath  I  spent  in 
America  and  it  was  truly  a  delight.  My  soul  was  abundantly 
blessed  in  preaching  the  word  of  life  to  others,  and  seemed 
perfectly  willing  to  sacrifice  everything  for  their  good." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Wesley,  written  two  days  later,  namely, 
October  31,  1769,  he  states  that  the  number  of  his  hearers 
on   the  common  was   four  or  five  thousand,     in   the  same 


148 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


epistle  he  also  says  the  society  in  Philadelphia  comprised 
about  one  hundred  persons  who  desired  to  be  in  close  con- 
nection with  Wesley.  The  day  before  he  wrote  this  letter 
he  notes  in  liis  Journal  that  he  preached  "  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  morning."  In  the  letter  to  Mr.  Wesley  the  next  day 
he  says  :  "  When  I  began  to  talk  of  preaching  at  five  in 
the  morning  the  people  thought  it  would  not  answer  in 
America.  However,  T  resolved  to  try  and  I  had  a  very 
good  congregation.  There  seems  to  be  a  great  and  effectual 
door  open  in  this  country  and  I  hope  many  souls  will  be 
gathered  in.  The  people  in  general  like  to  hear  the  word, 
and  seem  to  have  ideas  of  salvation  by  grace." 

On  the  Monday  evening  following  his  first  Sabbath  in 
the  city,  the  room  in  which  the  Philadelphia  society  wor- 
shipped was  "  well  crowded  and  God  gave  his  blessing  to 
the  word."  Aftt.r  the  public  meeting  concluded,  "I  spoke," 
says  Pilmoor,  "with  several  persons  who  have  a  work  of 
grace  in  their  souls,  and  are  panting  after  the  liberty  of  the 
Sons  of  God.  In  America  as  well  as  in  England  there  are 
witnesses  of  free  salvation  who  have  their  part  in  the  first 
resurrection  and  are  partakers  of  vital  religion." 

On  his  way  from  New  York  to  Maryland  Eobert  Williams 
called  upon  Mr.  Pilmoor  in  Philadelphia  and  joined  him  in 
the  work  of  the  ministry  there.  "  During  his  stay  in  the 
city,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  he  preached  several  times  and  seemed 
to  have  a  real  desire  to  do  good.  His  gifts  are  but  small,  yet 
he  may  be  useful  to  the  country  people,  who  are,  in  general, 
like  sheep  without  shepherds."  The  fact  of  Williams  start- 
inf^  for  Maryland  almost  immediately  after  Boardman's  ar- 
rival in  New  York  suggests  that  the  latter  sent  him  to  rem- 
force  Strawbridge  southward. 

Captain  Webb  was  in  Philadelphia  on  November  4,  1769, 
having  come  up  from  Wilmington,  where  he  had  been  on  a 
brief  visit.  He  brought  joyful  tidings  of  men  turned  ''  from 
darkness  into  light."  Thus,  both  Webb  and  WiUiams  must 
have  been  with  Pilmoor  at  this  time.  The  next  day  was  the 
second  Sunday  of  Piimoor's  ministry  in  Philadelphia.  At 
seven  in  the  morning  Webb  preached  "  an  excellent  sermon 


PILMOOR  AND   WILLIAMS 


149 


on  poverty  of  spirit."  Then  a  blessed  time  was  enjoyed  at 
St.  Paul's  at  the  sacrament.  ''  My  soul,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  did 
eat  Christ's  flesh  and  drink  His  blood  and  found  it  meat  in- 
deed." As  on  the  previous  Sunday  he  preached  from  the 
stage  of  the  race-course,  so  now  he  signalized  the  second 
Sunday  of  his  mission  by  preaching  in  the  public  market. 
Of  this  occasion  he  wrote  :  "  At  two  o'clock  I  preached  to 
some  thousands  of  people  in  the  new  Market,  who  all  be- 
haved as  if  tney  felt  the  awful  presence  of  God."  He  had 
another  service  at  six,  at  which  he  "  read  and  explained  the 
Kules  of  the  Society  to  a  vast  multitude  of  serious  people," 
and  was  much  cheered  by  the  encouraging  aspect  of  the 
field.  He  exultingly  says  :  "  God  has  opened  a  great  and 
effectual  door  in  this  place  for  the  preaching  of  his  gospel. 
Of  all  that  I  have  seen  in  England  and  Wales,  where  I  have 
travelled,  nothing  was  equal  to  this.  The  word  runs  from 
heart  to  heart  and  from  house  to  house  in  such  a  manner  that 
I  am  filled  with  wonder  and  with  praise." 

Robert  Williams  was  yet  in  the  city,  and  November  6, 
1769,  "  after  preaching  at  five  in  the  morning,"  Pilmoor, 
writes  "  Mr.  Williams  set  off  to  Maryland.  As  he  is  very 
sincere  and  zealous  I  trust  that  God  will  make  him  a  burning 
and  a  shining  light  in  that  dark  part  of  the  country,  where 
the  poor  people  have  been  so  long  neglected  that  they  are 
quite  ignorant  of  the  gospel  way  of  salvation." 

Pilmoor,  as  these  words  show,  knew  something  of  the  con- 
dition of  things  in  Maryland  already,  and  they  afford  cor- 
roboration of  his  suggestion  of  Webb's  connection  with  the 
beginning  of  the  work  in  that  province.  When  he  got  as 
far  south  as  Wilmington,  the  enthusiastic  soldier  evangelist 
would  be  apt  to  go  further,  especially  if  he  heard  of  Straw- 
bridge's  work.  And  if  he  had  joined  Strawbridge  in  his 
southern  labors  he  probably  would  have  related  the  fact  to 
Pilmoor.     Apparently  as  we  shall  in  a  moment  see  this  was 

the  case. 

The  Philadelphia  newspapers  of  the  period  show  tliat 
business  intercourse  was  established  between  it  and  ^\'estem 
Maryland.     Most  of  the  commerce   of  the   middle   colonies 


150 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


south  of  the  Hudson  centred  in  Philadelphia.  The  com- 
munication between  it  and  Maryland,  occasioned  by  the 
business  conditions  of  the  country,  rendered  it  almost  inevit- 
able that  the  first  Wesleyan  pioneers  should  also  pass  back 
and  forth  between  that  province  and  Philadelphia,  and  this 
they  actually  did. 

Stevens,  in  the  first  volume  of  his  "  History  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church"  (p.  103),  erroneously  asserts  that 
\\'illiams  joined  King  as  well  as  Strawbridge  "  southward." 
In  truth,  King  was  never  in  America  until  nine  months  after 
Eobert  AViliiams  went  to  Maryland. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  reinforcement  of  Embury 
and  Webb  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  by  Wesley's  first 
duly  sent  missionaries,  Strawbridge  in  Maryland  was  rein- 
forced by  a  valiant  knight  of  the  Cross,  who  arrived  from 
Europe  a  few  weeks  before  them.  There  is  now  a  strong 
advance  movement.  With  Boardman,  Pilmoor,  Webb,  and 
Embury  in  the  cities,  and  with  Strawbridge  and  Williams  in 
Maryland,  the  promise  of  wider  and  richer  conquests  bright- 
ens and  strengthens.  Edward  Evans,  too,  is  about  to  put  on 
the  Wesleyan  armor  and  with  the  trump  of  the  new  evangel 
sound  the  battle  signal  in  New  Jersey.  Altogether,  in  the 
closing  weeks  of  the  year  1769  the  skies  were  radiant  with 
hope  and  auguries  of  victory  for  the  young  Methodism  of 
America. 

At  this  time  the  work  was  spreading  in  Delaware  and  in 
Maryland.  Pilmoor,  on  November  4,  1769,  says  :  "  Captain 
Webb  came  on  from  Wilmington  and  brought  us  tidings 
that  Jesus  the  great  Shepherd  had  blessed  his  labors  in  the 
gospel  and  made  them  successful  in  turning  men  from  dark- 
ness to  light  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God.  The 
work  of  God  begun  by  him  and  Mr.  Strawbridge,  a  local 
preacher  from  Ireland,  soon  spread  through  the  greater  part 
of  Baltimore  County,  and  several  hundreds  of  people  were 
brought  to  repentance  and  turned  unto  the  Lord."  In  1791 
Freeborn  GaiTettson  published  his  "  Experience  and  Travels," 
in  which  volume  he  says  :  "  Between  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  years  of  my  age  I  left  school.     About  this  time 


GARRETTSON   MEETS   THE   METHODISTS 


151 


it  was  that  there  began  to  be  much  said  of  the  people  called 
Methodists  in  Baltimore  County,  where  I  lived."  As  he  was 
seventeen  years  old  August  15,  1769,  it  would  appear  that 
about  the  latter  part  of  the  same  year  the  Methodist  revival 
excited  much  attention  in  Baltimore  County.  It  is  apparent 
from  what  Pilmoor  above  says,  that  it  was  extending  tliere 
in  1769,  and  he  strongly  intimates  that  Webb  had  given  im- 
pulse to  it.  Garrettson  says :  "  Many  went  out  to  hear 
them,  and  I  among  the  rest.  The  place  was  so  crowded  I 
could  not  get  into  the  house,  but  from  what  I  could  under- 
stand I  thought  they  preached  the  truth,  and  did  by  no  means 
dare  to  join  with  the  multitude  in  persecuting  them,  but 
thought  I  would  let  them  alone  and  keep  close  to  my  own 
church.  One  day  as  I  was  riding  home  I  met  a  young  man 
who  had  been  hearing  the  Methodists  and  had  got  his  heart 
touched  under  the  w^ord.  He  stopped  me  in  the  road  and 
began  to  talk  so  sweetly  about  Jesus  and  his  people,  and 
recommended  Him  to  me  in  such  a  winning  manner,  that  I 
was  deeply  convinced  tliere  was  a  reality  in  that  religion,  and 
that  it  was  time  for  me  to  think  seriously  on  the  matter."  " 
Garrettson,  however,  did  not  become  a  Methodist,  until  some 
years  subsequently.  Yet,  in  this  passage,  he  gives  a  vivid 
glimpse  of  the  movement  in  Maryland  about  1769-70.  Led- 
num  says  that  not  many  years  before  1859  persons  were  liv- 
ing who  heard  Captain  Webb  preach  in  the  woods  in  the 
north  end  of  Wilmington. 

Williams,  as  we  have  seen,  preached  in  Philadelphia  at 
five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  November  6,  1769,  and  then 
started  for  Maryland.  The  same  evening  Pilmoor  preached 
to  a  large  congregation  from  a  very  assuring  text,  namely  : 
"  The  Lord  whom  ye  seek  shall  suddenly  come  to  his  temple, 
even  the  Lord  whom  ye  delight  in,  behold  he  shall  come." 
He  met  a  small  company  of  people  after  the  service  and 
"  spoke  to  them  about  the  state  of  their  souls.  One  of  them 
lived  as  a  servant  with  a  family  of  rigid  predestinarians,  who 
had  taken  much  pains  to  keep  her  from  hearing  the  Method- 
ists.    But   she   told  them  the  Methodists  showed   her  the 

*  The  Experience  and  Travels  of  Freeborn  Garrettson,  pp.  13,  14. 


152 


THE   WESLEYAX    MOVEMENT   IX   AMERICA 


way  to  heaven  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  if  they  could 
point  out  a  better  way  she  would  never  go  to  hear  them 
more.  This  put  them  to  a  stand  ;  so  she  resolved  to  go  for- 
ward in  that  way  wherein  she  had  found  benefit  to  her  soul." 

Those  days  early  in  November,  1769,  were  rich  in  experi- 
ence, work,  and  success  in  the  city  of  Brotherly  Love.  In- 
deed a  revival  was  already  in  progress.  "  The  Lord,"  says 
Pilmoor,  "  was  remarkably  present  at  our  public  meetings 
during  the  whole  of  this  week  " — November  5th  and  11th  in- 
clusive. "  I  generally  preach  twice  a  day,"  he  continues, 
"  besides  meeting  classes  and  conversing  with  people  about 
the  state  of  their  souls.  Nine  persons  were  admitted  into 
society  and  one  found  peace  with  God.  The  Lord  is  making 
bare  his  arm  in  the  sight  of  the  heathen  and  many  of  the 
poor  Africans  are  obedient  to  the  faith.  On  Saturday  niglit 
the  people  crowded  into  the  room  as  long  as  they  could  and 
many  were  obliged  to  stand  without  in  the  street  while  I  ex- 
plained and  applied  the  words  of  the  Baptist :  '  A\  hose  fan 
is  in  liis  Land  and  he  will  thoroughly  purge  his  floor  and 
gather  his  wheat  into  the  garner,  but  he  will  burn  the  chaff 
with  unquenchable  fire.'  " 

Following  this  preaching  service  was  held  what  would 
perhaps  now  be  termed  an  ''after-meeting."  It  was  com- 
posed of  the  young  people,  "one  of  whom  was  deeply  af- 
fected and  groaned  for  redemption  through  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb."  Captain  Webb  was  wdth  them,  ''  and  he  was  greatly 
drawn  out  in  prayer  to  God "  for  the  conversion  of  the 
mourner.  To  all  this  Pilmoor  was  not  indifferent.  "  As  I 
sat  in  my  room,"  he  says,  "  my  mind  w^as  impressed  with  a 
strong  desire  to  go  down  and  join  with  them.  I  did  so,  and 
it  was  indeed  a  time  of  great  life  and  powder.  The  poor 
creatures  cried  out  in  the  bitterness  of  their  souls  for  an  in- 
terest in  the  blood  of  atonement  and  would  not  rest  without 
a  blessing  from  God.  I  stood  and  wondered  at  the  amazing 
goodness  of  God,  that  he  should  condescend  to  w^ork  by  such 
an  im worthy  instrument."  Such  an  outbreak  of  revival  was 
inspirini^  to  the  new  missionary,  and  he  exulted  in  witnessing 
its  victorious  progress. 


PILMOOR  PREACHES   IN  THE  JAIL 


153 


Webb  still  stands  with  Pilmoor  in  the  front  of  the  battle 
in  Philadelphia,  as  he  had  stood  by  Embury  in  New  York. 
The  third  Sunday  of  Pilmoor's  labors  in  Philadelphia,  which 
was  November  12th,  was  a  day  of  remarkable  interest.  "  God 
blessed  the  labors  of  Mr.  Webb,"  writes  Pilmoor,  "  and  made 
his  word  in  the  mouth  of  his  servant  spirit  and  life  to  the 
people.  In  the  evening  a  great  number  attended  while  I  ex- 
plained and  applied  his  holy  word.  They  hear  as  for  their 
lives.  Many  that  could  not  possibly  squeeze  into  the  house 
stood  without  and  waited  all  the  time,  notwithstanding  the 
cold.  At  the  general  society  the  house  was  quite  full.  The 
people  are  so  in  earnest  for  the  word  that  there  is  no  getting 
them  away.  Many  come  to  me  daily  to  inquire  after  the 
way  of  salvation,  and  are  determined  not  to  rest  without  the 
peace  of  God.  The  dear  Immanuel  is  exalted  and  my  soul 
exults  in  his  salvation." 

While  the  revival  was  thus  advancing  under  the  fervid 
and  eloquent  ministrations  of  Pilmoor,  reinforced  as  he  had 
been  by  those  sons  of  thunder  Thomas  Webb  and  Kobert 
Williams,  he  was  moved  by  the  spiritual  destitution  of  the 
criminals  in  duress  in  Philadelphia  to  bear  to  them  the  di- 
vine message.  Accordingly  on  November  14,  1769,  after 
his  sermon  at  5  in  the  morning,  he  "went  to  the  jail  and 
preached  to  the  poor  sinners  in  that  place  of  misery  and  dis- 
tress." 

In  its  primitive  period  in  America  Methodism  was  distin- 
guished by  its  proclamation  of  the  gospel  to  the  profligate 
and  the  poor.  I  have  shown  that  in  the  initial  stage  of  his 
New  York  ministry,  Embury  located  his  pulpit  in  a  notori- 
ously vicious  section  of  the  city  and  also  sought  out  the 
helpless  victims  of  poverty  in  the  poor-house ;  so  now,  be- 
fore the  lapse  of  a  month  after  W^esley's  missionaries  first 
uplifted  the  evangelical  standard  in  this  country,  one  of 
them  w^as  in  the  Philadelphia  jail,  "proclaiming  liberty  to 
the  captives  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that  were 
bound."  The  prisoners,  "  all  behaved  witli  the  utmost  at- 
tention. The  word  seemed  to  sink  into  their  hearts  and  evi- 
dence itself  to  their  consciences  as  the  truth  of  God."     The 


154 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


Wesleyan  movement,  by  its  very  genius,  was  a  glad  evangel 
to  the  wretched  and  the  outcast.  Like  Him  whom  it  exalted 
Methodism  went  to  them  that  were  lost.  Its  most  brilliant 
successes  have  been  achieved  when  it  has  most  closely  ad- 
hered to  its  original  spirit  and  purpose. 

Pilmoor's  fourth  Sunday  in  Philadelphia  w^as,  he  says  "  a 
day  of  salvation.  Both  in  the  morning  and  in  the  evening 
God  gave  his  blessing  to  the  word  and  made  it  to  work  effect- 
ually in  the  hearts  of  the  people."  Nor  did  he  intermit  his 
work  when  the  sabbath  was  over.  He  was  at  the  head  of  the 
reapers  in  the  ripe  harvest  and  was  constantly  busy,  "  bring- 
inc'  in  the  sheaves."  ''  The  three  following  days,"  he  writes, 
"  I  had  many  blessed  opportunities  of  preaching  Christ  Jesus 
the  Lord,-  and  my  poor  labors  w^ere  owned,  especially  among 
the  prisoners.  My  soul  is  so  drawn  out  with  love  to  souls 
that  I  am  willing  to  spend  my  very  life  in  doing  them  good. 
Some  ministers  who  preach  for  the  sake  of  worldly  advan- 
tage are  careful  to  avoid  too  much  duty,  but  I  find  duty  is 
my  delight  and  the  more  I  preach  the  better  I  like  the  em- 
ployment." 

Up  to  this  time  the  Philadelphia  Methodists  had  no  house 
of  worship.     In  the  early  days  of  the  society,  which  I  sup- 
pose included  the  first  weeks  tliat  Pilmoor  was  with  them,  they 
met  "  in  a  pothouse  in  Loxley's  Court,  which  was  a  passage 
running  from  Arch   to  Cherry  Street  near  Fourth."  -     The 
place  was  much  too  small  for  the  accommodation  of  the  peo- 
ple that  gathered  to  hear  the  eloquent  Wesleyan  preacher 
who  had  now  completed  the  first  month  of  his  mission  in  the 
city.     He  and  his  valiant  band  were  embarrassed  by  their 
success.     Provision  had  to  be  made  for  the  growing  audi- 
tories.    Thursday,  November  23,  1769,  "  we  met,"  says  Pil- 
moor, "  to  consult  about  getting  a  more  convenient  place  to 
preach  in.     That  we  had  would  not  contain  half  of  the  peo- 
ple w^ho  wished  to  hear  the  word,  and  the  winter  was  ap- 
proaching so   that  they    could  not   stand  without.     Several 
places  were  mentioned  and  application  was  made  to  no  pur- 
pose.    Though  the  ministers  in  general  were  pretty   quiet 

*  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia. 


A   CHURCH   SECURED 


155 


they  did  not  approve  of  our  preaching  in  their  pulpits.  In 
this  I  could  not  blame  them,  especially  as  we  form  a  society 
of  our  own  distinct  from  them  and  their  congregations. 
What  we  should  do  I  could  not  determine.  Ground  to 
build  upon  might  have  been  easily  purchased,  but  we 
had  no  money,  and  besides  we  wanted  the  place  imme- 
diately." 

A  singular  conjuncture  of  circumstances  made  it  possible 
for  Pilmoor  and  the  society  to  purchase  a  church  edifice 
which  its  projectors  had  not  been  able  to  finish  nor  to  keep. 
This  opportunity  issued  in  a  happy  relief  of  the  straitened 
Methodists.  "  We  came  to  an  agreement,"  says  the  mis- 
sionary, "  to  purchase  a  very  large  shell  of  a^  church  that  was 
built  by  the  Dutch  Presbyterians  and  left  unfinished  for  w^ant 
of  money.  As  the  poor  people  had  ruined  themselves  and 
their  families  by  building  it  they  were  obliged  to  sell  it  to 
pay  their  creditors.  It  was  put  up  at  public  auction  and 
sold  for  seven  hundred  pounds,  though  it  cost  more  than 
two  thousand."  Thus  a  new  temple,  of  ample  proportions, 
w^as  prepared  for  the  Methodist  congregation  of  Philadelphia 
most  opportunely,  grievous  as  was  the  calamity  of  which  its 
walls  were  the  pathetic  memorial.  "  The  church,"  says  Pil- 
moor, "was  built  to  support  a  party.  They  spent  their 
fortunes  and  were  thrown  into  jail  for  debt.  The  church 
was  appointed  to  be  sold  by  an  act  of  the  Assembly.  A  gen- 
tleman's son  who  w^as  non  compiis  mentis  happened  to  step 
into  the  auction  room  and  bought  it.  His  father  wanted  to 
be  off  of  the  bargain,  but  could  not  without  proving  the  in- 
sanity of  his  son.  Rather  than  attempt  this,  he  was  willing 
to  lose  fifty  pounds  by  the  job.  Thus  the  Lord  provided  foi:  ^ 
us.  Our  way  was  made  plain  and  we  resolved  to  purchase  ^ 
the  place,  which  we  did  for  six  hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 
How  wonderful  the  dispensations  of  Providence!  Surely 
the  very  hairs  of  our  heads  are  numbered."  In  the  first  vol- 
ume of  his  "History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church" 
(see  pages  66  and  120)  Stevens  says  the  church  in  Philadel- 
phia was  procured  in  1770.  We  now  know  it  was  bought  by 
the  Methodist  Societv  in  1769.     As  we  shall  hereafter  see, 


156 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


however,  the  regular  legal  conveyance  of  the  property  was 
not  completed  until  June  of  the  next  year. 

The  new  edifice,  afterward  known  as  Saint  George's,  was 
eighty-five  feet  long  and  fifty-five  feet  wide.  The  persons 
who  built  it,  says  Lednum,  "  we  have  been  informed,  w  ere  or 
had  been  members  of  the  German  Keformed  congregation  at 
the  corner  of  Fourth  and  Sassafras  Street."  He  also  relates 
a  tradition  of  the  bankrupt  projectors  of  the  structure  being 
in  prison  for  debt  and  when  "  their  acquaintances  inquired  of 
them  as  they  looked  through  the  prison  windows,  '  For  what 
were  you  put  in  jail  ?  '  they  answered,  '  for  building  a  church.' 
To  go  to  jail  for  the  pious  deed  of  building  a  church  became 
a  proverb  in  tlwl-'city  of  Brotherly  Love." 

The  society,  led  by  their  ardent  preacher,  moved  very  rap- 
idly in  securing  the  building.  They  met  to  consult  "  about 
getting  a  more  convenient  place  to  preach  in  on  the  twenty- 
third  nf  November"  and  the  next  day  they  gathered  for 
worship  in  the  new  temple.  This  was  Friday,  thought  by 
the  superstitious  to  be  an  unlucky  day.  John  Wesley  has 
declared  that  the  religion  of  the  Methodists  is  "no  more 
pure  from  heresy  than  it  is  from  superstition."  Those  brave 
pioneers  of  the  Wesleyan  movement  which  was  destined  to 
overspread  North  America  were  not  liiudered  by  an  idle 
superstition.  Therefore  on  Friday,  November  24,  1760,  the 
standard  of  Christ  was  uplifted  within  the  bare  walls  of  the 
church  on  Fourth  Street,  which  has  ever  since  been  a  con- 
spicuous fortress  of  Methodism.  This  notable  occasion  was 
well  improved  by  Pilmoor,  who  says,  "I  preached  in  the  new 
church  to  a  numerous  congregation  with  great  freedom  of 
mind.  God  gave  me  liberty  of  spirit  to  open  that  noble 
passage  of  scripture:  'Who  art  thou,  O  great  mountain? 
Before  Zerubbabel  thou  shalt  become  a  plain,  and  he  shall 
bring  the  head-stone  thereof  with  shouting,  crying,  Grace, 
Grace,  unto  it.'  Peradventure  that  God  who  enabled  him  to 
finish  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  will  by  his  providence  and 
blessing  make  w^ay  for  us  to  finish  the  church  we  have  bought 
and  set  apart  for  his  praise."  The  next  day  Pilmoor  again 
preached  from  the  parable  of  the  Publican  and  the  Pharisee. 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

pelmoor's  first  term  in  ST.  George's,  Philadelphia  ;  assist- 
ed   BY   WEBB   AND   STRAWBRIDGE. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  was  described  the  successful  en- 
deavor of  the  Methodists  in  Philadelphia  to  procure  a  house 
of  worship.  We  have  seen  them  assembling  within  it,  and 
now  we  come  to  witness  their  first  sabbath  convocation 
therein. 

It  was  the  twenty-sixth  of  November,  1769.  A  multitude 
thronged  within  the  spacious  w^alls  of  St.  George's  on  that  event- 
ful day.  Captain  Webb,  the  founder  of  the  society,  appropri- 
ately preached  the  morning  sermon.  "  God  was  present," 
writes  Pilmoor,  "  and  gave  his  blessing  to  the  ministry  of  Mr. 
Webb.  In  the  evening  w^e  had  about  two  thousand  hearers 
who  waited  with  attention  still  as  night,  while  I  opened  and 
applied  the  parable  of  the  talents.  After  preaching  I  made 
a  collection  toward  paying  for  the  church,  and  got  above  six- 
teen pounds.  This  is  a  blessing  from  the  Lord  and  I  trust 
it  will  redound  to  his  glory.  Very  many  attended  at  the 
public  society,  a  great  concern  seemed  to  be  among  them, 
and  nothing  will  satisfy  them  but  the  knowledge  of  salvation 
by  the  remission  of  sins."  This  vivid  description  of  the  work 
of  the  first  sabbath  in  the  new  church  strikingly  recalls  the 
impressive  scenes  of  the  memorable  day. 

Mechanics  were  at  once  engaged  to  adapt  the  building  to 
the  holy  use  to  w^hich  it  had  been  consecrated.  While  it  was 
under  the  hands  of  the  workmen,  the  improvement  of  the 
spiritual  temple  advanced.  The  days  immediately  succeed- 
ing the  Sunday  we  have  just  contemplated  w^ere  busy  ones 
in  the  new  edifice.  "  During  the  rest  of  this  Aveek,"  says 
Pilmoor,  "  we  had  good  congregations  in  general ;  the  Lord 


158  THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 

was  present  in  our  meetings,  and  gave  his  word  success.  My 
time  was  fully  taken  up— in  the  day  with  the  workmen  we 
had  employed  to  make  alterations  in  the  church;  m  the 
evening  preaching  the  everlasting  gospel." 

St.  George's   has  been  called  the  Methodist  Cathedral. 
For  many  y^ars  it  was  the  largest  Wesleyan  structure  in  the 
land      It  was  occupied  by  the  Philadelphia  society  in  but    ^ 
little  over  a  year  after  the  opening  of  the  New  York  chapel. 
There  is  ground  for  the  beUef  that  it  was  the  second  house 
of  worship  owned  by  the   Methodists  in  this  country.     It 
is  the  only  existing  church  of  the  denomination  that  was 
built  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Eevolution.     The  original 
"  preaching  house "  in  New  York  was  demolished  in  1817, 
but  that  in  Philadelphia,  which  first  resounded  with  the  voice 
of  Joseph  Pilmoor  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  November,  1769, 
is  yet  a  Weslevan  temple.     In  the  revolutionary  war  it  was 
desecrated  by  IBritish  troops,  who  used  it  for  a  riding-school. 
Its  walls  were  somewhat  mutilated  by  a  tire  which  threat- 
ened its  destruction  in  1865,  but  the  breaches  made  by  the 
flames  were  mended,  and  St.  George's  stands  the  most  con- 
spicuous and  impressive  architectural  memorial  of  Amencan 
Methodist  antiquity.     Except  three  to  four  years  it  has  stood 
throughout  the  whole  period  of  the  existence  of  Methodism 
in  America.     Unless  ravaged  by  fire  or  shattered  by  earth- 
quake it  probably  will  remain  through  the  twentieth  cen^ 
tury  monumental  of  a  heroic  and  glorious  epoch  of  Christian 
propa-andism.     Its  beneficent  influence  has  reached  to  the 
four  quarters  of  the  earth.     In  that  sacred  fabric  are  en- 
shrined  the  faith,  tears,  and  work  of  Thomas  Webb,  Joseph 
Pilmoor    Eichard  Boardman,  Edward  Evans,  and  their  co- 
adjutors and  successors,  and  from  its  altars  have  gone  forth 
thousands  of  converts  who  "  have  fought  the  good  fight,"  and 
have  triumphantly  swept  through  the  gates  of  solid  pearl 

into  the  City  of  pure  Gold.  ^    ,     ,.  ^       .  tdt  -i  ^  i  i,- 

The  second  Sunday  the  Methodists  of  Philadelphia 
spent  in  their  new  sanctuary  was  a  day  of  extraordinary 
significance.  It  was  the  first  Sunday  of  December,  1769. 
The  sermon  in  the  morning  was  preached  by  Captain  Webb, 


PILMOOR's   IMPORTANT   STATEMENT   IN   ST.   GEORGE'S    159 

and  it  "was  attended  with  power."  In  the  evening  Pilmoor 
preached  to  a  crowded  assembly  on  the  final  judgment.  The 
deportment  of  the  people  was  consonant  with  the  solemnity 
of  the  theme.  The  citizens  of  Philadelphia  generally  were 
impressed  favorably  by  the  new  movement,  for  the  fervent 
preacher  declares  :  "  The  people  in  general  behave  to  us 
with  the  utmost  respect  and  civility,  not  only  in  the  church 
while  we  worship  Jehovah,  but  in  all  other  places.  This  is 
the  Lord's  doing  and  justly  demands  our  heartiest  praises." 

That  which  gave  peculiar  distinction  to  this  second  sab- 
bath in  St.  George's  was  a  declaration  by  Pilmoor  of  the 
"faith  and  body  of  princij^les  "  of  the  Methodists.  Scarcely 
more  than  forty  days  had  passed  since  the  first  itinerant  dep- 
utation of  Wesley  arrived  from  London.  Less  than  four 
years  previously  Barbara  Heck  thrust  Philip  Embury  forth 
upon  his  gospel  mission  in  New  York.  Eobert  Strawbridge 
had  not  long  been  sounding  the  trump  of  the  new  awakening 
in  Maryland.  Only  a  year  or  two  had  elapsed  since  Captain 
Webb  began  his  fmitful  evangelical  labors  in  Philadelphia. 
Methodism  was  a  novelty  to  the  people,  and  its  progi'ess  ex- 
cited interest  and  inquiry.  It  was  liable  to  suffer  from  mis- 
apprehension and  misrepresentation.  Now  that  it  had  come 
into  a  conspicuous  position  in  Philadelphia  by  the  occupancy 
of  a  church  whose  calamitous  history,  together  with  its 
prominent  situation,  made  it  an  object  of  note,  Pilmoor 
wisely  determined  that  the  people  should  be  informed  con- 
cerning the  nature  and  design  of  Methodism,  and  of  the  pur- 
pose contemplated  by  the  mission  of  his  associate  and  him- 
self in  this  country.     In  his  Journal,  he  says : 


"As  I  would  not  wish  to  do  anything  that  would  not  bear 
the  light,  nor  even  mislead  nor  impose  upon  people,  I  re- 
solved to  lay  before  the  congregation  the  only  design  we  had 
in  coming  to  America,  and  the  reason  of  our  buying  the 
church;  that  they  might  be  able  to  judge  for  themselves 
whether  they  ought  to  encourage  us  or  not.  Accordingly  I 
read  in  public  the  following  particulars  : 

"1.  That  the  Methodist  society  was  never  designed  to 


160 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


make  a  separation  from  the  Church  of  England,  or  to  be 
looked  upon  as  a  Church. 

"  2.  That  it  was  at  first  and  is  still  intended  for  the  bene- 
fit of  all  those  of  every  denomination,  who  being  truly  con- 
vinced of  sin  and  the  danger  they  are  exposed  to,  earnestly 
desire  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come. 

*'3.  That  any  person  who  is  so  convinced,  and  desires 
admittance  into  the  society,  wiU  readily  be  received  as  a  pro- 
bationer. 

"  4.  That  those  who  walk  according  to  the  oracles  of  God, 
and  thereby  give  proof  of  their  sincerity,  will  readily  be  ad- 
mitted into  full  connection  with  the  Methodists. 

"  5.  That  if  any  person  or  persons  in  the  society  walk 
disorderly  and  transgress  the  holy  law  of  God,  we  will  ad- 
monish him  of  his  error ;  we  will  strive  to  restore  him  in  the 
spirit  of  meekness  ;  we  will  bear  with  him  for  a  time  ;  but 
if  he  remain  incorrigible  and  impenitent,  we  must  then  of 
necessity  inform  him  that  he  is  no  longer  a  member  of  the 

society. 

"  6.  That  the  church  now  purchased  is  for  the  use  ot  the 

society  for  the  public  worship  of  Almighty  God. 

"  7.  That  a  subscription  will  immediately  be  set  on  foot 
to  defray  the  debt  upon  the  said  church,  and  an  exact  ac- 
count kept  of  all  the  benefactions  for  that  purpose. 

"  8.  That  the  deeds  of  settlement  shall  be  made  as  soon 
as  convenient  exactly  according  to  the  plan  of  the  settlement 
of  all  the  Methodist  chapels  in  England,  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land. 

"  I  then  told  the  people  we  left  our  native  land,  not  with 
a  design  to  make  divisions  among  them,  or  to  promote  a 
schism,  but  to  gather  together  in  one  the  people  of  God  that 
are  scattered  abroad,  and  revive  spiritual  religion.  This  is 
our  one  point ;  Clirist  who  died  for  us  to  live  in  us  and  reign 
over  us  in  all  things." 

This  declaration  furnished  a  just  view  of  the  Wesleyan 
platform.  Mr.  Wesley  did  not  intend  that  his  societies  should 
be  separated  from  the  Church  of  England.     His  utterances 


now   THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   BEGAN 


161 


herein  w^ere  positive  and  emphatic.  He  loyally  adhered  to 
the  church  and  counselled  his  followers  so  to  do.  They  were 
simply  joined  into  societies  under  the  quasi  tutelage  of  the 
Church  of  England. 

In  his  "  Reasons  for  not  Separating  from  the  Church," 
Wesley  said  that  the  chief  design  of  God's  "  providence  in 
sending  us  out  is  undoubtedly  to  quicken  our  brethren.  And 
the  first  message  of  all  our  preachers  is  to  the  lost  sheep  of 
the  Church  of  England.  Now  would  it  not  be  a  fiat  contradic- 
tion of  this  design  to  separate  from  the  Church  ?  It  has  been 
objected  that  till  we  do  separate  we  cannot  be  a  compact, 
united  body.  It  is  true  we  cannot  till  then  be  a  compact, 
united  body,  if  you  mean  by  that  expression,  a  body  distinct 
from  all  others  ;  and  we  have  no  desire  to  be  so." 

The  Wesley s  originally  "had  no  plan  at  all.  They  only 
went  hither  and  thither  wherever  they  had  a  prospect  of  sav- 
ing souls  from  death.  But  when  more  and  more  asked  '  What 
must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  '  they  were  desired  to  meet  all  to- 
gether. Twelve  came  the  first  Thursday  night ;  forty  the 
next;   soon  after  a  hundred.      And  they  continued  to  in- 


crease. 


"  * 


When  the  number  of  those  who  came  together  reached 
about  a  hundred  Wesley  "  took  down  their  names  and  places 
of  abode,  intending  as  often  as  it  was  convenient  to  call  upon 
them  at  their  own  houses.  Thus  without  any  previous  plan 
or  design  began  the  Methodist  society  in  England  ;  a  com- 
pany of  people  associating  together  to  help  each  other  to  Avork 
out  their  own  salvation."t  Mr.  Wesley  also  says  that  "it 
was  one  of  our  original  rules  that  every  member  of  our  society 
should  attend  the  Church  and  Sacrament,  unless  he  had  been 
bred  among  Christians  of  any  other  denomination."  %  The 
early  American  Methodists  adhered  to  the  rule  conceniing 
attendance  upon  the  sacrament  at  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Respecting  the  adherence  of  the  Methodists  to  the  English 
Church  Mr.  Wesley  uttered  the  following  explicit  w^ords : 
"The  Methodists  (so  termed)  know  their  calling.  They 
weighed  the  matter  at  first  and  determined  to  continue  in  the 


♦Wesley's  Sermons,  vol.  ii.,  p.  391. 
11 


tlbid.,p.  493.  :ibid.,p.  369. 


162 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


Church.     Since  that  time  they  have  not  wanted  temptations 
of  every  kind  to  alter  their  resolution.     They   have   heard 
abundance  said  upon  the  subject,  perhaps  all  that  can  be  said. 
They  have  read  the  writings  of  the  most  eminent  pleaders  for 
separation,  both  in  the  last  and  the  present  century.     They 
have  spent  several  days  in  a  general  Conference  upon  this 
very  question,  '  Is  it  expedient  (supposing,  not  granting,  that 
it  is  Imcful)  to  separate  from  the  established  Church?  '     But 
still  they  could  see  no  sufficient  cause  to  depart  from  their 
first  resolution.     So  that  their  fixed  purpose  is,  let  the  clergy 
use  them  well  or  ill,  by  the  grace  of  God  to  endure  all  things, 
to  hold  on  their  even  course,  and  to  continue  in  the  Church, 
maugre  men  or  devils,  unless  God  permits  them  to  be  thrust 
out."*     The  AVesleyan  Conference  in  Bristol  in  1768  bore 
the  following  testimony  on  this  subject,  which  is  on  record 
in  the  minutes  thereof  :    "  Let  us  keep  to  the  Church.     Over 
and  above  all  the  reasons  that  were  formerly  given  for  this 
we  add  another,  now  from  long  experience.     They  that  leave 
the  church  leave  the  Methodists.     The  clergy  cannot  sepa- 
rate us  from  our  brethren,  the  dissenting  ministers  can  and 
do.     Therefore  carefully  avoid  whatever  has  a  tendency  to 
separate  men  from  the  Church.     In  particular  preaching  at 
any  hour  that  hinders  them  from  going  to  it." 

In  relation  to  a  possibility  of  its  being  said  that  God  could 
have  made  the  Methodists  "  a  separate  people  Uke  the  Mora- 
vian brethren,"  Mr.  Wesley  asserts  that  "  this  would  have 
been  a  direct  contradiction  to  His  whole  design  in  raising 
them  up  ;  namely,  to  spread  scriptural  religion  throughout 
the  land,  among  people  of  every  denomination,  leaving  every 
one  to  hold  his  own  opinions  and  to  follow  his  own  mode  of 
worship."  Furthermore  he  says:  "Nothing  can  be  more 
simple,  nothing  more  rational  than  the  Methodist  disci- 
pline. It  is  entirely  founded  on  common  sense,  particular- 
ly applying  the  general  rules  of  scripture.  Any  person  de- 
termined to  save  his  soul,  may  be  united  (this  is  the  only 
condition  required)  with  them.  But  this  desire  must  be 
evidenced  by  three  marks:   avoiding  all  known  sin;  doing 

*  Wesley's  Sermons,  vol.  i.,  pp.  496-97. 


/! 


C. WESLEY'S   STATEMENT   OF   THE   METHODIST   PLAN      163 

good  after  his  power;   and  attending  all  the  ordinances  of 

God."* 

Charles  Wesley  was  thoroughly  loyal  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land and  as  firmly  opposed  to  the  separation  from  it  of  the 
Methodists  as  his  brother.  In  a  letter,  dated  April  28,  1785, 
to  Dr.  Chandler,  a  New  Jersey  clergyman  who  spent  some  years 
in  England,  Charles  said  of  himself  and  his  brother  John : 
"  We  had  no  plan  but  to  serve  God  and  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. My  brother  drew  up  rules  for  our  society,  one  of  which 
was  constantly  to  attend  the  Clim*ch  prayers  and  sacrament. 
When  we  were  no  longer  permitted  to  preach  in  the  Churches, 
we  preached  (but  never  in  Church  hours)  in  houses  or  fields 
and  sent  from  thence,  or  rather  carried,  multitudes  to  Church 
who  had  never  been  there  before.  Our  society  in  most  places 
made  the  bulk  of  the  congregation  both  at  prayers  and  sacra- 
ment. 

"  I  never  lost  my  dread  of  a  separation,  or  ceased  to  guard 
our  society  against  it.  I  told  them,  '  I  am  your  servant  as 
long  as  you  remain  members  of  the  Church  of  England,  but 
no  longer.  Should  you  ever  forsake  her  you  renounce  me.' 
Some  of  our  lay  preachers  very  early  discovered  an  inclina- 
tion to  separate  which  induced  my  brother  to  publish 
Keasons  against  Separation.  If  any  one  did  leave  the  Church 
at  the  same  time  he  left  our  society.  For  fifty  years  we  kept 
the  sheep  in  the  fold." 

It  is  apparent  then  that  Pilmoor  s  exposition  of  the  place 
and  purpose  of  Methodism  in  America  correctly  represented 
the  plan  of  the  Wesleys.  He  embodied  in  a  succinct  sum- 
mary the  essential  ideas  of  Wesley anism.  Man  a  sinner,  and 
as  such  in  danger  of  the  wrath  to  come  ;  Christ's  substitutional 
death ;  His  kingship  in  the  believer ;  the  word  of  God  the 
rule  of  human  conduct ;  and  the  necessity  of  obedience  to  the 
divine  law ;  all  of  these  truths  were  indicated  in  the  historic 
declaration  made  by  Joseph  Pilmoor  in  St.  George's,  Phila- 
delphia, December  3,  1769.  The  Wesleyan  banner  was  now 
publicly  upborne  in  the  Quaker  city,  and  the  inhabitauts 
were  apprised  of  its  significance. 

♦Wesley's  Sermons,  vol.  ii.,  p.  393. 


164 


THE    WP:SLEYAN   movement   in   AMERICA 


The  next  day,  December  4,  1769,  many  persons  spoke 
with  the  missionary  on  sacred  themes.  One  was  a  man  from 
the  country.  "In  our  conversation,"  says  Pilmoor,  "I  hap- 
pened to  mention  the  Be  v.  John  Wesley.  *  O,'  said  he,  '  I 
don't  like  him.' 

" '  Why  so  ?  ' 

"  *  He  preaches  works  too  much.' 

*' '  That  is  hardly  possible,  provided  they  are  presented 
as  the  fruits  of  faith,  for  by  them  a  true  faith  is  as  evidently 
known  as  a  tree  by  the  fruit.'  " 

An  example  of  the  doctrine  which  Pilmoor  proclaimed 
from  the  Wesleyan  pulpit  in  Philadelphia  is  shown  in  the 
following  reference  to  the  sermon  he  delivered  on  the  first 
Sunday  evening  in  January,  1770.  "  I  preached,"  he  writes, 
*'  to  a  prodigious  multitude  on  Abraham  offering  up  Isaac, 
and  found  my  soul  exceedingly  happy  in  speaking  to  the  peo- 
ple of  God  on  imitating  the  patriarch,  and  giving  up  all  unto 
God.  How  wonderful  is  the  power  of  obedient  love !  It 
makes  the  service  of  God  a  perfect  freedom  and  every  duty 
delightfully  pleasant  to  the  saints.  When  we  consider  the 
faith  and  love  of  Abraham,  the  severe  trials  with  which  he 
was  exercised,  and  the  glorious  victory  he  obtained,  we  can- 
not but  admire  the  infinite  riches  of  grace,  and  that  divine 
power  by  which  he  overcame.  But  when  we  view  the 
amazing  love  of  God  to  mankind,  and  see  him  deliver  his 
darling  son  who  was  infinitely  dearer  to  Him  than  all  the 
angels  in  Heaven  to  suffering  and  shame  and  pain  and 
death  for  a  guilty  world,  'tis  beyond  the  power  of  expres- 
sion and  far  exceeds  the  utmost  stretch  of  human  concep- 
tion. Hear  it  ye  flaming  Seraphim,  and  all  ye  hosts  of 
angels  that  adore  around  his  lofty  throne,  *God  so  loved 
the  world  that  He  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  who- 
soever believeth  in  Him  might  not  perish  but  have  everlast- 
ing life.' " 

It  is  evident  that  Pilmoor  maintained  clearly  and  elo- 
quently in  America  the  chief  doctrine  of  the  Keformation, 
and  of  the  Wesleys,  namely,  the  justification  of  the  repentant 
sinner  by  faith.     He  proclaimed  Jesus  in  his  atoning  death 


BOARDMAN'S  evangelical  TEACHING 


165 


and  mediation  as  the  only  hope  of  sinful  men.  The  theme 
of  his  ministry  was  "  Christ  crucified." 

The  foundations  of  the  great  Wesleyan  structure  in  Amer- 
ica which  were  laid  by  humble  lay  hands  before  the  arrival  of 
Pilmoor  and  Boardman,  were  by  their  labors  enlarged  and 
strengthened.  They  were  not  incapable  hirelings,  but  able 
ministers  of  the  New  Testament.  We  have  less  knowledcre 
of  Boardman  than  of  his  associate,  yet  we  know  enough  to 
warrant  the  belief  that  he  was  "a  faithful  minister  of  Christ." 
In  one  of  his  autograph  letters  written  in  New  York  to  Mrs. 
Thorn,  of  Philadelphia,  he  says  :  "  I  find  it  good  to  i:>low  and 
sow  in  hope.  The  time  for  gathering  in  will  come.  O  my 
dear  friend,  did  we  but  see  the  fulness  of  blessing  laid  up 
for  us  in  Christ  Jesus  it  would  make  us  strong  in  faith,  ear- 
nest in  prayer,  satisfy  our  objections  and  supply  all  our  wants, 
while  out  of  this  fulness  we  received  grace  for  grace.  Yet  a 
little  while  and  Jesus  will  take  us  home.  May  we  get  fully 
ready.  Heaven  will  more  than  compensate  for  all  the  little 
difficulties  and  trials  we  have  suffered  in  this  world."  It  is 
easy  to  discern  in  these  words — which  leveal  what  spirit  he 
was  of — what  was  Boardman's  view  of  Christianity,  and  of 
Christ  its  centre  and  substance.  He  preached  him  in  the 
fulness  of  his  redemptive  character  and  office,  as  the  Saviour 
to  the  uttermost  of  them  that  believe. 

In  another  autograph  letter  written  to  Captain  Parker, 
Boardman  says  :  "  No  peace,  no  comfort,  no  security  out  of 
God.  O  to  give  Him  all  our  hearts  is  indeed  the  one  thing 
needful.  God  is  indeed  a  jealous  God  and  won't  be  robbed 
of  his  glory.  Christ  is  worthy  of  our  supreme  love  and  ser- 
vice and  praise.  If  we  forsake  him  but  in  affection  he  will 
visit  us  with  stripes.  How  many  ?  How  long  will  it  last  ? 
This  who  can  tell  ?  How  much  has  our  gracious  Eedeemer 
to  bear  and  suffer  with  us  ?  He  is  God.  He  is  Love,  infi- 
nite in  compassion.  Let  us  therefore  give  him  our  love,  our 
service,  our  hearts.  Much  prayer  I  am  sure  will  do  us  much 
good,  and  will  not  be  labor  lost.  We  have  an  Advocate. 
Him  the  Father  heareth  always." 

Pilmoor  and  Boardman  obviously  were  fully  grounded  and 


166 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


settled  in  the  evangelical  truths  which  have  been  firmly  main- 
tained and  boldly  proclaimed  by  the  Wesleyans  from  the 
beginning.  On  Trinity  Sunday,  1770,  the  former  preached 
in  New  York,  "on  the  grace  and  goodness  of  the  divine 
Elohim,  as  engaged  for  our  salvation,"  and  to  his  reference 
to  the  occasion  he  adds : 

"The  Deity  triune,  one  Being  we  name 
Three  persons  divine  forever  the  same 
One  absolute  nature  in  all  we  maintain 
One  gracious  preserver  of  angels  and  men." 

They  stood  upon  the  foundation  of  the  prophets  and  apostles. 

The  day  following  the  Sunday  when  Pilmoor  elucidated 
Methodism  in  St.  George's  was  notable.  In  the  evening  he 
preached  on  "that  glorious  passage  in  the  eighth  of  Eomans: 
*  As  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  they  are  the  sons 
of  God,'"  and  says:  "I  afterward  admitted  a  very  hopeful 
young  man  into  the  society  and  concluded  the  day  in  praise 
to  God  for  the  great  and  effectual  door  he  has  opened  in 
this  city  for  the  preaching  of  his  precious  gospel.  The  sa- 
cred fire  is  spreading  wider  and  wider,  and  the  prospect  con- 
tinually grows  brighter  and  brighter." 

Pilmoor  held  a  meeting  on  Friday,  December  8,  1769, 
which  he  called  "  our  first  Intercession."  It  was  a  special 
service  of  the  early  Methodists,  and  he  says  that  he  regularly 
held  it  in  both  Philadelphia  and  New  York.  It  is  probable 
that  Boardman  did  the  same,  as  the  last  meeting  he  ever  at- 
tended was  the  Intercession,  in  Cork,  Ireland,  on  the  last  day 
of  his  life.  Crook  informs  us  that  the  Intercession  was  "a 
special  prayer-meeting  held  on  Friday,  at  noon,  in  Cork,  at 
that  time  with  reference  to  the  revival  and  progress  of  relig- 
ion and  the  labors  of  the  coming  Sabbath."  This  meeting 
was  held  at  noon  on  Friday  by  Pilmoor  in  this  country.  He 
records  his  testimony  to  its  usefulness.  Of  the  first  Interces- 
sion he  held  in  Philadelphia  he  says  :  "  It  was  indeed  a  time 
of  love."  Immediately  he  adds:  "Since  my  arrival  in  this 
country  my  mind  has  been  greatly  drawn  out  in  prayer,  and 
God  gives  me  an  answer  of  peace."    The  weekly  Intercession 


pilmoor' S   WORK    FOR   CHILDREN 


167 


was  no  doubt  one  of  the  means  by  w^hich  the  Wesleyans  in 
America  promoted  the  spirit  and  exercise  of  prayer  and  ob- 
tained strength  for  their  conflicts  and  conquests. 

Wherever  the  teachings  of  Jesus  prevail,  childhood  re- 
ceives tender  nurture.  At  the  period  of  his  advent  great  cruel- 
ty was  practised  toward  children  in  the  Roman  Empire.  Even 
Cicero  said,  when  a  child  "  dies  in  the  cradle  no  concern  is 
felt  about  it."  Children  were  often  abandoned  or  destroyed 
by  their  parents,  especially  the  female  children.  The  Chris- 
tian fathers  refer  to  this  Eoman  brutality.  "  Man  is  more 
cruel  to  his  offspring  than  animals,"  says  Clement.  Felix 
speaks  of  the  exposure  of  children  to  wild  beasts.  Christianity 
antagonized  this  as  well  as  the  other  moral  enormities  of  the 
classic  civilization. 

Christ  showed  a  pathetic  interest  in  children,  and  charged 
an  apostle :  "  Feed  my  lambs."  The  care  of  childhood  is  a 
chief  work  of  the  Church.  The  Christian  teacher  who  neg- 
lects the  religious  culture  of  the  young  fails  to  fulfil  his  mis- 
sion fully.  The  ranks  of  the  religionists  that  care  for  chil- 
dren will  be  reinforced  by  adults.  Wordsworth  truthfully 
says  "the  child  is  father  of  the  man."  The  shaping  which 
the  mind  and  heart  receive  in  the  first  decade  of  life  will 
commonly  remain  through  all  the  following  years  of  youth 
and  manhood.  The  prophet  Elisha  cast  salt  into  the  waters 
of  Jericho,  so  that  they  were  healed ;  and  the  Church  through 
its  ministry  and  its  lay  agencies  ought  to  sweeten  and  purify 
the  springs  of  the  future  race  by  instilling  into  childhood 
the  holy  principles  of  the  gospel.  Of  this  important  work 
Joseph  Pilmoor  was  not  unmindful  nor  neglectful  amid  all  his 
cares  and  labors  in  St.  George's.  With  his  engrossment  of 
mind  and  time  in  procuring  and  fitting  for  use  "  a  shell "  of 
a  large  church,  and  the  frequent  public  services,  and  private 
conversations  incident  to  the  enlarged  and  revived  condition  of 
the  cause,  he  yet  found  opportunity  to  care  for  the  children. 
On  Saturday,  December  9,  1769,  at  three  o'clock,  he  held  a 
children's  service  in  Philadelphia.  Of  this  occasion  he  says : 
"  I  met  the  children  for  the  first  time  and  found  it  much 
more  diiO&cult  to  speak  to  them  than  to  preach  to  the  most  in- 


168  THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   I'N   AMERICA 

telligent  hearers."  The  next  Saturday,  December  16,  he  was 
again  occupied  with  the  children,  and  was  cheered  by  signs  of 
success  in  this  hopeful  department  of  his  charge.  Of  this 
meeting  he  says  :  "  I  met  with  some  encouragement.  Several 
of  the  dear  little  creatures  wept  when  I  spoke  with  them  of 
the  things  of  God.  Perhaps  some  of  these  may  be  followers 
of  Jesus  when  my  head  is  laid  in  the  dust." 

Wesley  enjoined  attention  to  this  Juvenile  work.  At  his 
conference  in  17G8  at  which  the  American  call  for  preachers 
was  first  presented,  it  was  asked  "  What  can  be  done  for  the 
rising  (jenerafion  ?  Unless  we  can  take  care  of  these  the 
present  revival  of  religion  will  be  res  urdus  jEtaiis.  It  will 
last  only  the  age  of  a  man.  Who  will  labor  here  ?  Let  him 
that  is  zealous  for  God  and  the  souls  of  men  begin  now.  1. 
Spend  an  hour  a  week  with  the  children  in  every  large  town, 
whether  vou  like  it  or  not.     2.  Talk  with  them  every  time 

ft/ 

you  see  any  at  home.     3.  Pray  earnestly  for  them."  * 

We   have   seen   that   an  important   place    was  filled   by 
Thomas  W^ebb  in  the  initiatory  stage  of  the  movement  in 
America.     He  served  it  by  his  counsels,  travels,  preacliing, 
and  pecuniary  contributions.    We  have  also  seen  that  he  was 
its  founder  in  Philadelphia,  and  during  the  first  period  of 
Pilmoor's  labors  in  that  city  Webb  was  much  with  liim.     He 
was  there  when  the  congregations  were    overflowing   their 
liumble  place   of  worship  in   the   first  weeks   of   Pihnoor's 
American  ministry.     He  was  also  with  them  and  preached 
on  the  first  Sunday  that  they  assembled  in  the  new  church. 
No  doubt  he  encouraged  and  assisted  them  in  effecting  their 
removal  to  it.     Pour'  Sundays  of  the  five  from  November  5 
to  December  3,  1769,  inclusive,  he  was  present  and  preached 
in  Philadelphia,  and  he  evidently  was  an  important  agent  in 
promoting  the  revival  then  in  progress.     Being  about  to  leave 
the  city  for  his  home  on  Long  Island  he  preached  a  farewell 
sermon  on  the  evening  of  the  ninth  of  December.     Pilmoor, 
in  speaking  of  this  occasion,  thus  describes  the  famous  mili- 
tary evangehst :  '*  His  preaching,  though  incorrect  and  irreg- 

*  Minutes  of  the  Wesleyan  Conferences  from  the  First  held  in  London.     By  tlie 
late  Rev.  John  Wesley,  vol.  L,  pp.  81,  82. 


THE   QUAKERS   IN    PHILADELPHIA 


169 


ular,  is  attended  with  wonderful  power,  and  many  are  greatly 
blessed  under  his  ministry.  He  has  the  great  seal  of  God's 
approbation  to  his  commission,  and  that  is  far  more  than  all 
the  human  authority  under  heaven." 

The  third  sabbath  in  the  new  church — December  10, 
1769 — was  a  good  day  for  the  advancing  cause.  The  meet- 
ing in  the  morning  was  profitable.  In  the  afternoon  Pilmoor 
attended  worship  in  one  of  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  the 
city,  and  reported  that  the  sermon  was  most  excellent,  and 
that  the  blessing  of  God  descended.  In  the  evening  he  re- 
marks :  "  Our  church  was  well  crowded  while  I  preached  on 
*  Can  we  find  such  a  one  as  this  is,  a  man  in  whom  the  spirit 
of  God  is?'  The  general  society  afterward  was  attended 
with  a  great  measure  of  the  presence  of  God.  The  showers 
of  his  grace  descended  upon  us ;  my  soul  was  filled  with  love 
and  pity  for  poor  sinners,  and  greatly  drawn  out  with  desires 
for  their  salvation."  The  next  day  (Monday)  he  writes  "  was 
truly  a  gospel  day.  Many  attentive  hearers  were  present 
while  I  expatiated  on  the  words  of  good  King  Hezekiah  to 
his  princes  and  people  when  Jerusalem  was  besieged  by 
Sennacherib,  King  of  Assyria,  '  Be  strong  and  courageous,' 
etc.  We  have  no  need  to  fear,"  he  exclaims,  "for  there  are 
more  with  us  than  can  possibly  be  against  us.  God  Himself 
is  on  our  side,  and  therefore  we  shall  do  valiantly  and  put  to 
flight  the  armies  of  aliens.  Tuesday  was  all  taken  up  in 
,  speaking  with  those  who  came  to  inquire  how  they  may  flee 
from  -the  wrath  to  come,  and  preaching  to  the  prisoners 
where  I  had  more  liberty  than  ever  before." 

Pilmoor  in  Philadelphia  was  surrounded  by  a  serene  and 
plain  order  of  people,  called  Friends.  Their  habits  of  devout 
simplicity  and  serious  quietness  impressed  the  life  of  the 
city,  and  gave  a  tone  to  its  social  and  religious  atmosphere. 
Philadelphia  was  in  a  good  degree  at  that  time  a  Quaker 
city.  The  fervent  Methodists  and  the  tranquil  Friends  camd 
into  frequent  contact.  On  the  fourth  Sunday  of  Pilmoor's 
ministry  in  St.  George's,  December  17,  1769,  he  preached  at 
seven  in  the  morning,  and  then  went  to  the  Quaker  meeting. 
He  says :  "  Three  public  Friends  delivered  their  testimony, 


170 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


but  did  not  appear  to  have  mucli  of  that  spirit  and  life  which 
so  remarkably  attended  the  primitive  Quakers."  We  shall 
see  that  subsequently  he  was  able  to  give  a  more  favorable  re- 
port of  what  he  saw  of  this  peculiar  people  in  Philadelphia. 

Diligently  and  ardently  Pilmoor  prosecuted  his  mission, 
and  under  his  effective  preaching  the  work  advanced  in 
Philadelphia.  We  have  seen  the  revival  fires  extending,  and 
as  he  approaches  the  Christmas-tide  of  1769,  he  says  :  *'  The 
work  is  still  spreading ;  souls  are  fiocking  to  the  standard  of 
the  gospel  and  putting  on  the  armor  of  God."  The  crowd 
that  gathered  at  five  in  the  morning  of  Christmas  was  "  vast," 
and  they  *'  heartily  united  in  the  high  praises  of  the  King  of 
Zion.  At  ten  I  attended  divine  service,"  he  says,  "  and  re- 
ceived the  Holy  Sacrament  at  St.  Paul's,  and  found  much 
comfort  to  my  soul.  Our  congregation  m  the  evening  was 
very  large,  and  God  gave  me  liberty  of  mind  to  preach  Christ 
Jesus  the  Lord  as  the  only  Saviour  of  sinners.  Nothing  on 
earth  affords  me  such  satisfaction  as  striving  to  exalt  my 
heavenly  Master,  and  invite  the  people  to  come  unto  Him. 
Last  Christmas  I  was  in  the  Principality  of  Wales  ;  now  my 
lot  is  cast  near  four  thousand  miles  off  in  North  America." 

Still  the  revival  goes  on.  The  day  after  Christmas  Pil- 
moor had  many  persons  speak  with  him  about  religion. 
"  God  is  carrying  on  his  work  in  a  most  wonderful  manner," 
he  declares.  "  He  makes  bare  his  arm  in  defence  of  his  gos- 
pel, and  makes  it  the  savor  of  life  unto  life.  Several  persons 
who  have  been  awakened  of  late  desired  admittance  into  the 
society.  After  examining  them  closely  and  finding  them 
deeply  serious  I  gave  them  leave  to  meet  with  us."  The 
first  day  of  the  year  1770  he  was  greatly  refreshed  in  speak- 
ing with  many  of  the  society  after  the  service  in  the  evening, 
and  testified  :   "  God  is  deepening  his  gracious  work." 

On  the  second  day  of  1770  he  began  an  exposition  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer  in  Philadelphia,  which  he  continued  several 
evenings.  He  says :  "  Many  people  attended,  and  God  gave 
me  much  freedom  of  mind  to  preach  his  word."  As  we  shall 
see  he  subsequently  preached  a  lengthened  series  of  dis- 
courses in  New  York  on  the  same  fruitful  theme. 


STRAWBRIDGE   IN   PHILADELPHIA 


171 


And  now  the  famous  Maryland  evangelist  appears  in  the 
midst  of  the  Philadelphia  awakening.     Hitherto  we  have  not 
met  him  on  any  defined  date,  but  on  Sunday,  January  14, 
1770,  we  behold  him  in  St.  George's  pulpit  proclaiming  the 
message  which  he  had  delivered  with  such  historic  results 
south  of  the  Susquehanna.     We  are  not  informed  when  he 
came  to  Philadelphia,  how  long  he  stayed,  nor  how  exten- 
sively he  labored  there,  nor  when  or  whither  he  went,  but 
Pilmoor   does   say  that    on   this   Lord's    day  "Mr.    Kobert 
Strawbridge,  a  local  preacher  from  Maryland,  gave  us  a  plain, 
useful  sermon  at  seven  in  the  morning."     Thus  far  did  this 
Wesleyan    apostle    wander    from    the    sunny    land    of    the 
Chesapeake  in  the  depth  of  winter,  and  join  Pilmoor  in  evan- 
gelistic labor.     Those  primitive  Methodist  preachers  were  not 
appalled  by  distance  nor  difliculty,  but  in  going  forth  weep- 
ing they  travelled  afar  "bearing   precious   seed."     Though 
the  field  was  vast,  the  work  was  one,  and  the  few  laborers 
who   promoted  it  rejoiced   to  share  each  other's  toil.     Al- 
though we  have  no  knowledge  as  to  where  Strawbridge  then 
appeared  except  Philadelphia,  we  cannot  doubt  that  so  vali- 
ant a  soldier  of  the  cross  drew  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  in  holy 
conflict  elsewhere  in  the  region  of  the  Delaware  during  this 
mid-winter  campaign.     We  have  thought  it  possible  that  he 
even  went  to  New  York  at  this  time  to  see  his  countryman, 
Embury,  and  rejoice  with  him  on  the  field  of  his  warfare  and 
victory.     This  supposition  is  not  unreasonable  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  Embury  was  then  about  to  remove  to  Ashgrove. 

Mr.  Pilmoor,  in  his  search  for  souls,  got  eight  miles  away 
from  Philadelphia  on  the  sixteenth  of  January,  1770,  several 
Philadelphians  going  with  him  through  the  snow  in  a  sleigh. 
"We  found  a  large  congregation  waiting,"  he  says,  "and  I 
began  immediately  to  publish  free  salvation  to  sinners 
through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  God  is  raising  up  witnesses 
of  his  saving  grace  even  in  this  place." 

Pilmoor  preached  in  the  city  in  the  morning  of  Sunday, 
January  21st,  and  then  went  with  several  of  his  friends  to 
Kingcess,  "where,"  he  remarks,  "the  Swedes  have  lately 
built  a  handsome  church.     We  had  a  fine  congregation,  and 


172 


THE    WESLEY  AN    M0VP:MENT   IN   AMERICA 


God  enabled  me  to  preach  his  word  with  power,  and  made 
it  a  time  of  love.  Bigotry  has  but  little  place  in  Pennsyl- 
vania," he  adds.  "As  there  is  no  established  church,  the 
different  societies  of  Christians  are  all  on  a  level,  and  in  gen- 
eral love  one  another." 

He  was  in  St.  George's  pulpit  in  the  evening  of  this,  his 
ninth  Sunday  in  that  church.  The  congregation,  he  says, 
"  was  remarkably  large  and  attentive.  I  preached  on  '  The 
great  day  of  His  wrath  is  come,  and  who  shall  be  able  to 
stand  ?  '  My  bodily  strength  was  greatly  exhausted,  but  God 
renewed  it  again  in  meeting  the  society." 

The  fame  of  his  unctuous  eloquence  reached  to  a  benefi- 
cent institution  in  Philadelphia,  which  was  called  the  Better- 
ing House.  He  learned  that  the  inmates  wished  to  hear 
him.  He  was  quite  ready  to  gratify  them,  and  accordingly 
on  Tuesday,  January  23^  1770,  he  "  preached  in  one  of  their 
work  rooms  to  a  great  number  of  them."  Of  this  retreat  he 
wrote :  "  There  are  about  three  hundred  persons  in  it  who 
are  well  taken  care  of  by  the  public.  Those  who  are  able 
are  employed  in  some  kind  of  work,  the  sick  have  proper  at- 
tendance, and  the  children  are  properly  instructed.  This  is 
a  House  of  Mercy,  and  is  a  credit  to  Philadelphia." 

The  Pentecostal  wind  and  flame  still  rushed  on  in  the 
Quaker  city.  The  beginning  of  February,  1770,  was  distin- 
guished by  remarkable  manifestations  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  first  day  of  that  month  "  we  had  a  special  blessing,"  says 
Pilmoor,  "while  I  preached  on  the  conquest  of  David  over 
Goliath.  God  gave  us  a  good  hope  through  grace  that  we 
shall  overcome  the  devil  and  all  that  oppose  us.  During  the 
rest  of  this  week  our  public  and  private  meetings  were  much 
owned  and  blessed  of  the  Lord.  He  carries  on  his  work 
both  among  the  old  and  the  young,  but  chiefly  among  the 
young  people  who  seem  determined  to  run  the  appointed 
race  and  never  rest  till  they  obtain  the  celestial  prize." 

Notwithstanding  his  engrossing  labor  in  Philadelphia,  he 
went  abroad  to  sow  the  fruitful  seed  of  the  Wesleyan  revival. 
The  extent  of  his  work  outside  of  the  city  is  indicated  in  his 
record  for  January,  1770.     "In  the  course  of  this  month,"  he 


pilmoor' S   ITINERARIES   IN  THE   COUNTRY 


173 


writes,  "  I  preached  many  times  in  the  country  as  well  as  in 
the  city,  and  found  the  Lord  present  with  me  in  general. 
He  enabled  me  to  preach  the  word  of  his  grace  and  made 
it  effectual  for  the  conversion  and  edification  of  immortal 
souls.  There  is  a  great  and  effectual  door  open  for  the  gos- 
pel in  America,  and  I  trust  neither  earth  nor  hell  will  ever 
be  able  to  shut  it.  If  I  were  able  to  preach  ten  times  a  day 
here  is  work  enough,  and  the  people  receive  the  word  with 
thankfulness."  As  we  shall  see,  it  was  charged  two  years 
later  that  Pilmoor  and  liis  colleague  had  remained  in  the 
cities  too  exclusively.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  Pilmoor 
at  least  was  not  remiss  in  labor  at  this  time  in  either  the 
city  or  country. 

He  went  to  a  place  twenty  miles  from  the  city  on  March 
3,  1770,  where  he  "  found  a  fine  congregation,  and  God  gave 
his  word  success."  It  is  almost  certain  that  this  place  was 
Methacton.  The  following  day,  which  was  Simday,  he 
preached  at  White  Marsh,  and  remarks :  "  It  is  an  English 
Episcopal  church,  but  there  is  no  objection  to  my  preach- 
ing in  it  as  the  principal  members  are  my  particular  friends. 
As  it  had  been  published  some  time  before,  the  people  gath- 
ered from  all  quarters,  so  that  the  congregation  was  very 
large  and  my  heart  was  quite  at  liberty  while  I  showed  the 
nature  and  properties  of  faith,  and  what  that  salvation  is 
which  is  consequent  on  believing  on  the  Son  of  God." 

The  village  of  White  Marsh  is  in  Montgomery  County, 
Pa.,  fourteen  miles  from  Philadelphia.  The  Episcopal 
church  in  that  place  was  built  of  stone  in  Gothic  archi- 
tecture in  1710.  Its  spire  rises  100  feet.  "  It  was  nearly 
one  of  the  first  Episcopal  churches  built  in  Pennsylvania."* 
After  preaching  there  on  this  occasion  Pilmoor  returned  to 
meet  his  city  congregation.  "In  the  afternoon  the  snow 
came  down  very  plentifully,"  he  says,  "  so  that  we  had  very 
disagreeable  travelling;  however  we  got  home  in  time  for 
me  to  preach  in  the  evening.  The  Lord  seemed  to  be  re- 
markably present  while  I  explained  the  parable  of  the  prod- 
igal son,  and  likewise  at  the  society." 

*  Buck's  History  of  Montgomery  County,  Norristown,  1859,  pp.  66,  67. 


174 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IlSr   AMERICA 


Like  the  Divine  Master  whom  he  served  Pilmoor  fed  the 
hungry.  Hearing  that  the  prisoners  in  the  jail  "  were  in  the 
greatest  distress  for  want  of  bread  "  he  determined  to  relieve 
them.  So  in  the  evening  of  the  fifteenth  of  March  he  preached 
"  a  charity  sermon  for  them  from  the  text,  '  If  thine  enemy 
hunger  feed  him,  if  he  thirst  give  him  drink,  etc'  The  people 
were  remarkably  generous  and  contributed  freely  to  their 
necessities.  As  charities  are  often  misapplied,  I  resolved," 
he  says,  "  to  see  to  the  laying  out  of  the  money  myself  and 
bought  them  bread,  and  went  to  the  jail  to  deHver  it  among 
them  that  I  might  be  sure  they  got  it." 

The  soldier  evangelist  was  again  in  the  city  and  at  Pilmoor's 
side  in  the  closin^];  davs  of  his  first  term  on  the  Delaware. 
It  was  fortunate  that  Webb  returned,  for  having  taken  cold 
Pilmoor  was  in  his  room  sick,  a  result  probably  of  his  inces- 
sant labors.  "I  continued  very  ill  on  Saturday  and  Sunday," 
he  writes,  "  but  God  had  graciously  provided  by  sending  Cap- 
tain Webb  who  preached  for  me  and  his  ministry  was  blessed 
to  the  souls  of  the  people."  This  was  on  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  of  March.  On  Monday  the  nineteenth  he  "  was 
better  but  very  weak."  An  inquirer  called  in  great  distress 
to  ascertain  if  he  were  dead.  "  It  seems,"  he  says,  "  that  a 
report  had  spread  through  the  city  that  I  was  dead  which 
greatly  affected  and  distressed  the  people." 

The  close  of  his  work  for  a  season  in  Philadelphia  is  at 
hand.  A  time  of  refreshing  was  enjoyed  at  the  Intercession 
at  noontide  on  Friday  the  twenty-tliird  of  March,  1770,  and 
in  the  evening  he  held  a  service  of  especial  interest  and  im- 
portance which  in  a  moment  he  shall  describe. 

The  love  feast  is  a  significant  feature  of  the  Wesleyan 
economy.  In  it  the  members  partake  of  bread  and  water  to- 
gether in  token  of  their  brotherly  love.  The  Methodists  have 
esteemed  it  as  one  of  their  most  joyful  festivals.  It  gave  to 
the  old  American  quarterly  meetings  a  peculiar  and  a  pathetic 
charm.  By  personal  recitals  of  Christian  experience  it  evoked 
ejaculations  and  tears,  mingled  with  songs  and  shoutings.  It 
fostered  and  conserved  that  religious  emotion  which  is  so  de- 
lightful to  fervent  disciples.    In  it  blended  the  exultant  voices 


THE   FIRST   LOVE-FEAST   IN   AMERICA 


175 


of  veteran  saints  with  the  rapturous  expressions  of  new  con- 
verts. It  rekindled  failing  ardor,  stimulated  faltering  reso- 
lutions, and  revivified  declining  graces.  Its  attraction  has 
been  felt  by  millions,  and  its  effects  have  been  made  manifest 
by  the  intensified  zeal  and  joy  of  Methodists  all  over  Protes- 
tant Christendom.  The  first  love-feast  that  was  held  in 
America,  at  least  in  Philadelphia,  was  a  really  historical 
event.  Joseph  Pilmoor  introduced  this  beautiful  festival  in 
the  city  of  Brotherly  Love  amidst  the  vivid  experiences  of 
new  Christians  and  the  glowing  spirituality  of  the  society  fol- 
lowing upon  a  revival.  On  the  above  noted  evening,  March 
23,  1770,  "  we  had,"  he  says,  "  our  first  American  love-feast 
in  Philadelphia  and  it  was  indeed  a  time  of  love.  The  peo- 
ple behaved  with  as  much  propriety  and  decorum  as  if  they 
had  been  for  many  years  acquainted  with  the  economy  of  the 

Methodists." 

It  may  be  thought  that  as  the  Wesleyan  movement  was 
progressing  in  New  York  prior  to  its  origin  in  Philadelphia 
that  a  love-feast  had  been  held  in  the  former  city  before  the 
above  date,  but  Pilmoor  informs  us  that  this  was  not  the  case. 
Wakeley  in  his  "  Lost  Chapters  "  printed  a  ticket  of  member- 
ship issued  to  Hannah  Dean,  afterward  the  wife  of  Paul  Hick, 
in  New  York,  dated  October  1,  1769,  and  signed  by  Kobert 
Williams.  This  Wakeley  calls  a  "love -feast  ticket."  Pil- 
moor, however,  after  going  there  from  Philadelphia  held 
a  love-feast  of  Avhich  he  said:  "It  is  the  first  that  has  been 
kept  by  the  Methodists  of  New  York."  This  was  nearly  two 
months  later  than  the  first  love-feast  in  Philadelphia.  There- 
fore there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  latter  was  the  first  in 
America.  Whether  Strawbridge  prior  to  this  time  had  held  a 
love-feast  in  Maryland  it  would  now  be  vain  to  inquire,  but  it 
may  safely  be  said  that  no  evidence  exists  of  such  an  event. 

Captain  Webb  preached  in  Philadelphia  on  Saturday 
night,  March  24,  1770,  and  also  on  the  Sunday  morning  fol- 
lowing. In  the  evening  Pilmoor  preached  his  "  farewell  ser- 
mon." The  congregation  was  very  large — "  about  two  thou- 
sand attentive  hearers,"  he  asserts.  After  the  sermon  he  met 
the  society.     "  This,"  he  says,  "  has  been  a  good  day.     The 


176  THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 

word  of  the  Lord  was  quick  and  powerful  and  the  people 
were  greatly  affected." 

In  closing  his  first  term  of  ministerial  labor  in  America 
he  very  naturally  cast  over  it  a  retrospective  eye  and  with 
deep  interest  studied  the  results.  He  saw  much  cause  for 
joyful  gratitude.  He  gives  this  resume  of  his  labors  and  of 
the  fruit  thereof  :  "  I  have  now  been  five  months  in  this  city 
and  the  Lord  has  wonderfully  condescended  to  work  by  me. 
I  have  preached  in  many  places  adjacent  and  the  sacred  fire 
is  kindled.  Many  persons  are  deeply  concerned  for  their 
salvation  and  gladly  receive  the  gospel.  If  we  had  but  more 
preachers— men  of  faith  and  prayer,  wdio  would  preach  Christ 
Jesus  the  Lord  'tis  probable  the  American  Methodists  would 
soon  equal  if  not  exceed  the  Europeans. 

"  There  are  now^  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  in  society 
to  whom  I  have  given  tickets,  and  they  meet  in  class  and  at- 
tend to  all  the  discipline  of  the  Methodists  as  well  as  the 
people  in  London  or  Bristol." 

The  happy  results  of  his  first  period  of  toil  in  Philadel- 
phia moved  Pilmoor  to  exclaim,  "  This  is  God's  own  work.  He 
has  wonderfully  made  bare  his  arm  in  the  sight  of  his  people, 
and  his  right  hand  has  gotten  himself  the  victory.  A  seed  is 
raised  up  to  serve  Him,  and  they  shall  be  numbered  to  the 
Lord  for  a  generation,  and  I  hope  many  of  them  will  be  to  7ne 
a  crown  of  rejoicing  in  the  day  of  His  appearing." 

When  he  opened  his  ministry  in  Philadelphia  in  the  clos- 
ing days  of  October,  1769,  the  society  comprised  about  one 
hundred  members  and  were  without  a  church  or  any  other 
adequate  place  of  w^orship.  They  also  were  without  means 
to  buy  or  build  one.  Scarcely  more  than  a  month  elapsed 
after  his  arrival  before  the  large  edifice  which  yet  stands  on 
Fourth  Street  wvas  obtained,  and  occupied  by  the  congre- 
gation which  so  soon  overflowed  the  former  room,  which  it 
is  presumed  was  the  "  pot  house  "  in  Loxley's  Court.  The 
church  so  quickly  acquired  at  once  became  the  scene  of  great 
assemblies  and  of  powerful  occasions  of  preaching,  prayer, 
and  revival.  It  was  not  finished  and  its  auditorium  was  by 
no  means  elegant.     At  a  later  period  it  was  described  by  an 


SUMMARY   OF   WORK   ACHIEVED   IN   PHILADELPHIA    177 

eye-witness  as  "  without  galleries  within  or  railing  without — 
a  dreary  cold-looking  place  in  winter  time  when  from  the 
leaky  stove-pipe  mended  with  clay  the  smoke  w^ould  fre- 
quently issue  and  fill  the  house.  The  front  door  was  in  the 
centre.  About  twenty  feet  from  the  east  end  inside  stood  a 
square  thing  not  unlike  a  watch-box  with  the  top  sawed  off 
w^hich  served  as  the  pulpit."  * 

The  addition  of  this  solid  and  spacious  structure  to  the 
material  equipment  of  Methodism  in  this  country  was  a  large 
achievement.  It  established  the  embryonic  church  on  a  firm 
and  permanent  basis  in  the  foremost  city  of  the  continent  and 
gave  it  prestige  in  the  land.  Altogether  Pilmoor's  first  period 
of  ministry  in  Philadelphia  was  distinguished  by  signal  and 
enduring  success.  In  the  brief  period  of  five  months  he  saw 
the  membership  of  the  society  nearly  doubled  and  the  pub- 
lic ear  opened  to  hear  the  word.  In  those  months  Method- 
ism in  Philadelphia  attained  to  a  vantage  ground  which  it 
never  relinquished  nor  lost,  and  which  gave  impetus  to  all 
the  subsequent  advances  of  the  Methodists  in  the  land. 
In  accomplishing  these  remarkable  achievements  Pilmoor 
indeed  received  important  assistance.  Every  Methodist 
preacher  then  in  the  country  except  Embury  joined  him  in  his 
responsible  and  laborious  field.  Captain  Webb  was  fre- 
quently with  him,  and  his  service  no  doubt  was  important 
in  procuring  the  Church  building  as  well  as  in  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  spiritual  temple.  Boardman  preached  at  the 
beginning,  and  a  little  later  WiUiams  delivered  several  of  his 
arousing  sermons.  Eobert  Strawbridge  also  sm^veyed  the 
new  and  strategic  ground  and  proclaimed  the  glad  tidings 
there.  Yet  these,  Webb  excepted,  were  but  brief  visitors. 
Pilmoor  steadily  stood  at  his  post,  guided  the  movement,  was 
"  instant  in  season  out  of  season,"  planned,  preached,  prayed, 
and  prevailed.  He  led  his  brave  battalion  to  strenuous  war- 
fare and  to  splendid  victory. 

*  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  i.,  p.  456.     The  ''watch-box  "  was  the 
shelter  of  the  city  watchman. 


Id 


CHAPTEE  V. 


BOARDMAN  AND   PILMOOR   TOGETHER   IN  NEW  YORK. 


Throughout  Pilmoor's  first  term  in  Philadelphia,  Board- 
man  was  preaching  in  New  York.  On  the  twenty-sixth  of 
March,  1770,  Pilmoor  left  Philadelphia  in  a  "  chaise  "  with 
Francis  Harris  of  that  city,  to  exchange  with  Boardman.  It 
was  arranged  that  he  should  preach  at  Pennypack,  and  he 
was  accompanied  thither  by  many  of  his  friends.  There  he 
preached  to  a  large  audience,  and  says  :  "  The  God  of  all 
grace  was  remarkably  present  and  gave  us  a  parting  bless- 
ing. After  preaching  I  formed  a  little  society.  At  present 
there  is  a  fair  prospect  here.  If  the  preaching  is  kept  up,  it 
is  likely  that  much  good  will  be  done." 

He  "  set  ofl*  early  the  next  morning,"  and  arrived  in 
New  York  about  eight  o'clock  on  Wednesday  evening, 
March  28,  1770.  "  Knowing  it  was  preaching  night,  we 
hastened  to  the  chapel,"  he  says,  "  and  found  Mr.  Boardman 
preaching  the  word  of  God  with  life  and  power.  My  heai-t 
greatly  rejoiced  at  the  sight  of  him,  and  my  spirit  was  united 
in  close  fellowshi]>  with  him.  God  has  made  us  like  David 
and  Jonathan.     Our  souls  are  bound  together  in  love." 

Boardman  and  Pilmoor  now  performed  an  important  and 
especial  task  for  the  society  in  John  Street.  Ground  was 
purchased  for  a  Methodist  chapel  two  years  before  Pilmoor  s 
arrival  in  New  York.  The  structure  was  erected  and  opened 
for  worship  one  year  before  Boardman  saw  it.  The  prop- 
erty, however,  had  not  been  legally  secured  to  the  society. 
The  lots  were  bought  by  and  conveyed  to  eight  gentlemen. 
Pilmoor  says  there  had  "  been  great  uneasiness  among  the 
people  of  this  city  about  the  settlement  of  the  chapel  that 
was  built  for  the  Muthodists."     Steps  were  now  taken  to  re- 


THE  JOHN   street  DEED   WRONG 


179 


move  this  distrust  and  to  establish  the  work  upon  a  firm 
material  foundation.     Both  of  the  missionaries  being  in  New 
York,  the  trustees  were  called  together  by  them  and  the 
writings   examined.       "By   comparison   with  the    plan    on 
which  the  chapels  in  Europe  are  settled,"  says  Pilmoor,  "we 
found  them  to  be  essentially  wrong.     The  trustees  were  in- 
vested with  absolute  power  over  both  preachers  and  people, 
and  could  do  just  as  they  wanted  without  being  accountable 
to  anyone.     This  we  judged  to  be  not  only  contrary  to  the 
whole  economy  of  the  Methodists,  but  likely  to  prove  hurtful 
to  the  work  of  God.     Therefore  we  endeavored  to  persuade 
them  to  have  it  altered.      The  reasons  we  gave  had  such 
weight   that   the   trustees   freely   resigned   their   trust,    and 
agreed  to  destroy  the  writings,  which  was  immediately  done 
by  the  consent  of  the  whole."     As  Philip  Embury  was  one 
of  the  eight  men  to  whom  the  property  was  conveyed,  it 
would  seem  that  at  this  time  he  had  not  removed  from  the 
city.    "Afterward,"  writes  Pilmoor,  "a  jDroper  settlement  was 
made  according  to  the  general  plan,  and  the  chapel  was  regu- 
larly settled." 

The  original  deed  of  the  John  Street  site,  which  was  ex- 
ecuted March  30,  1768,  is  yet  preserved,  and  is  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  trustees  of  the  Eighteenth  Street  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  of  New  York.  Seaman  printed  it  in  an 
appendix  to  his  "  Annals  of  Methodism  in  New^  York  City." 
The  deed  was  made  to  Philip  Embury,  WilHam  Lupton, 
Charles  White,  Richard  Sause,  Henry  Newton,  Paul  Heck, 
Thomas  Taylor,  all  of  New  York  City,  and  Thomas  Webb,  of 
Queens  County.  According  to  the  terms  of  the  instrument 
the  property  belonged  to  these  gentlemen  in  fee  simple.  It 
appears  that  a  lease  of  the  same  premises  was  given  to  the 
same  persons  the  day  preceding  the  date  of  the  deed,  that  is 
to  say,  March  29,  1768. 

Dr.  Wakeley,  in  "  Lost  Chapters,"  says  that  the  property 
was  first  leased  to  these  persons,  and  that  there  was  a 
space  of  "  two  years  and  seven  months  "  between  the  date  of 
the  lease  and  the  date  of  the  deed.  There  was,  it  is  true,  such 
an  interval  between  the  date  of  the  lease  of  which  Wakeley 


180 


THE   WESLEYAN"   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


speaks,  and  the  reconyeyance  of  the  property  to  which  Pil- 
moor  refers,  when  he  says  that  afterward  "  the  chapel  was 
regularly  settled."  But  there  was  an  earlier  deed  unknown 
to  Wakeley,  which  bore  the  date  of  the  day  following  thnt 
on  which  the  lease  was  given.  It  was  this  primitive  deed  to 
which  Pilmoor  refers  when  he  says,  "  we  examined  the  writ- 
ings" and  "found  them  to  be  essentially  wrong."  The  writ- 
ings were  wrong  because  thereby  the  trustees  were  made  pos- 
sessors of  the  property  and  "  could  do  just  as  they  wanted, 
without  being  accountable  to  anyone."  That  Wakeley  knew 
nothing  of  this  deed  is  apparent  from  his  statement  that  he 
discovered  "  on  the  old  book  that  the  price  they  ultimately 
paid  for  '  the  John  Street  premises  '  was  £600."  *  Had  he 
seen  the  deed  of  March  30,  1768,  he  would  have  learned 
from  it,  as  well  as  from  the  "  Old  Book,"  that  the  sum  he 
mentions  was  the  consideration  of  the  purchase.  That 
Wakeley  was  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  this  deed  is  also 
clear  from  a  notable  error  which  he  recorded  thus  :  "  Our 
Methodist  fathers  were  prudent  men.  They  acted  very  cau- 
tiously. Not  feeling  able  to  purchase  the  site,  they  con- 
cluded that  it  was  better  to  lease  and  pay  the  ground  rent. 
This  they  did  for  nearly  three  years,  and  it  was  upon  this 
leased  property  they  built  the  renowned  Wesley  Chapel.  I 
know  this  account  differs  from  all  we  have  read  on  the  sub- 
ject by  writers  on  early  Methodism  in  New  York,  but  here 
are  the  documents  that  are  on  record ;  here  are  the  well-au- 
thenticated facts."  t  There  was  one  document,  however, 
which  disproved  his  alleged  "facts."  Stevens,  in  the  first 
volume  (page  63)  of  his  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,"  advanced  the  same  error  in  saying  :  "  They  leased 
the  site  on  John  Street  in  1768  and  purchased  it  in  1770." 
They  purchased  it  in  1768,  and  in  1770  a  new  conveyance 
was  effected,  w  hich  absolutely  secured  it  to  the  Methodists. 

Why  the  purchasers  of  the  John  Street  site  took  a  lease 
thereof  only  one  day  before  their  deed  was  executed,  prob- 
ably is  not  known.  If  Wakeley  had  discovered  this  deed, 
he  would  not  have  said  that  "  our  early  Methodist  fathers," 

*  Lost  Chapters,  p.  56.  t  Ibid.,  pp.  55,  56. 


NEW   DEED   OF   JOHN   STREET   CHAPEL 


181 


being  "  prudent  men,"  erected  "  upon  this  leased  property  " 
their  chapel.  The  chapel  was  built  by  those  *'  prudent 
men,"  not  upon  "  leased  "  ground,  but  upon  a  site  bought  by 
and  legally  conveyed  to  the  eight  gentlemen  whose  names 
are  above  given.  To  secure  the  object  of  the  purchase  be- 
yond all  contingencies,  the  settlement  of  the  chapel  was  reg- 
ularly and  legally  made  by  a  new  deed,  which  was  executed 
November  second,  1770,  and  which  conveyed  the  property  in 
trust  to  :  "  Eichard  Boardman  and  Joseph  Pilmoor,  minis- 
ters of  the  gospel ;  William  Lupton,  merchant ;  Thomas 
Webb,  gentleman  ;  John  Southwell,  merchant ;  Henry  New- 
ton, shopkeeper ;  James  Jarvis,  hatter ;  all  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  trustees  appointed  for  the  uses  and  purposes 
hereinafter  mentioned."  Those  purposes,  as  set  forth  in  the 
deed,  were,  in  brief,  that  John  Wesley,  late  of  Lincoln  Col- 
lege, in  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  such  other  persons  as 
he  should  "from  time  to  time  appoint,"  might  "therein 
preach  and  expound  God's  Holy  Word ; "  and  after  his  de- 
cease, "  Charles  Wesley,  late  of  Christ's  Church  College,  Ox- 
ford, and  such  person  or  persons  as  he  "  should  "  from  time 
to  time  appoint,  and  at  all  times  during  his  life,  and  no 
other,  to  have  and  enjoy  the  full  use  and  benefit  of  the  said 
meeting-house  for  the  purposes  aforesaid ;  "  and  after  his 
decease,  "  then  upon  further  trust  and  confidence,  the  said 
Eichard  Boardman  and  the  rest  of  the  hereinbefore  men- 
tioned trustees,  or  the  major  pai*t  of  them,  or  the  survivors  of 
them,  and  the  major  part  of  the  trustees  for  the  time  being, 
shall,  and  from  time  to  time  thereafter  will,  permit  such  per- 
son or  persons  as  shall  be  appointed  at  the  yearly  confer- 
ence of  the  people  called  Methodists  in  London,  Bristol, 
Leeds,  and  the  city  of  New  York ;  and  no  others,  to  have 
and  enjoy  the  said  premises  for  the  purposes  aforesaid,  pro- 
vided always  that  the  said  person  or  persons,  so  from  time  to 
time  to  be  chosen  as  aforesaid,  preach  no  other  doctrine  than 
is  contained  in  the  said  John  Wesley's  'Notes  upon  the 
New  Testament,'  and  his  four  volumes  of  sermons." 

It   appears   that    while    the   chapel    was  not  built  upon 
leased  ground,   as   Wakeley   asserts,   it   stood   upon  a  site 


182 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


which,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  deed,  was  owned  by  the 
eight  persons  who  bought  it.  Therefore  it  was  an  important 
service  which  the  two  preachers  rendered  in  effecting  an  ar- 
rangement which,  on  the  second  of  November,  1770,  per- 
fectly secured  the  premises  by  a  new  deed  to  the  society. 

We  now  see  what  the  first  Methodist  Church  in  New 
York  cost.  The  original  deed  and  the  "  Old  Book  "  alike 
show  that  the  price  of  the  lots  was  six  hundred  pounds. 
Thomas  Bell,  who  worked  on  the  structure  six  days,  in  a 
letter  dated  May  13,  1769,  says  that  the  cost  of  the  chapel 
was  six  hundred  pounds.*  Thus  it  seems  that  the  cost  of 
the  edifice  was  the  same  as  the  cost  of  the  site,  and  the  total 
expense  of  the  enterprise  was  twelve  hundred  pounds.  The 
price  paid  for  St.  George's  by  the  Philadelphia  society  was 
only  six  hundred  and  fifty,  though  Pilmoor  says  it  originally 
cost  two  thousand  pounds. 

Boardman  and  Pilmoor  remained  together  for  some  days 
in  New  York,  "  strengthening  and  encouraging  each  other  to 
go  forward  in  the  good  way  and  work  of  God."  "We 
parted,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  with  a  full  determination  to  live  or 
die  for  the  Lord  Jesus.  Mr.  Boardman  set  off  with  Mr. 
Harris  in  his  chaise  for  Philadelphia,  and  I  stayed  in  New 
York."  Boardman's  departure  could  not  have  been  earlier 
than  the  tenth  of  April,  1770,  as  on  that  day,  according  to 
the  "  Old  Book,"  he  received  from  the  John  Street  treasurer 
one  pound  and  four  shillings,  "  to  pay  his  expenses  to  Phila- 
delphia." Apparently  St.  George's  was  without  either  of  the 
regular  preachers  for  over  a  fortnight.  But  there  is  reason 
to  suppose  that  during  this  interval  one  of  the  "  irregulars  " 
was  doing  effective  work  in  that  field.  Pilmoor,  on  the  day 
preceding  that  in  which  he  left  Philadelphia,  mentioned  that 
Captain  Webb  preached  there.  It  is  probable  that  he  re- 
mained and  manned  the  post  until  Boardman  arrived. 

New  York,  at  the  time  of  the  coming  of  the  Wesleyan 
missionaries,  had  not  far  from  twenty  thousand  inhabitants. 
The  growth  of  the  city  had  been  very  slow.     As  early  as 

♦Letter  of  Thomas  Bell  in  Arminian  Magazine,  London,  1807,  pp.  45,  46.     I  as- 
sume that  Bell  means  that  the  building  alone  cost  600  pounds. 


NEW   YORK   CHURCHES   IN   1769 


183 


1613  the  Dutch  erected  a  few  huts  on  Manhattan  Island. 
When  a  century  and  more  had  passed,  according  to  an  old 
map,  Frankfort  Street,  near  the  upper  end  of  the  City  Hall 
Park,  "  was  at  about  the  northernmost  limit  of  the  loosely 
settled  town,  with  farms  and  gardens  and  swamps  beyond." 
At  the  opening  of  the  revolution  the  city  had  less  than  22,- 
000  population,  and  not  until  1815  did  it  reach  one  hundred 
thousand. 

The  condition  of  New  York  as  to  its  ecclesiastical  con- 
cerns is  indicated  by  the  catalogue  of  its  churches,  furnished 
by  Thomas  Bell.  New  York,  in  1769,  he  asserts,  had  "  three 
places  of  worship  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  two  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland ;  three  of  the  Dutch  Church ;  one  Bap- 
tist meeting  ;  one  Moravian  chapel ;  one  Quakers'  meeting  ; 
one  Jews'  synagogue,  and  one  French  Eeformed  Chapel." 
He  adds  :  "  Among  all  these  there  are  very  few  that  like  the 
Methodists.  The  Dutch  Calvinists  have  preached  against 
them."  The  letter  containing  these  statements  was  written 
nearly  three  months  before  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  were  ap- 
pointed to  America.  In  addition  to  the  above  places  of  re- 
ligious convocation  was  the  humble  chapel  on  Golden  Hill — 
John  Street.  There  must  also  have  been  a  Lutheran  church 
or  congregation  in  the  city,  as  in  an  advertisement  which 
Philip  Embury  inserted  in  a  New  York  newspaper,  in  March, 
1761,  concerning  a  school  he  proposed  to  establish,  he  said 
the  school  house  was  ''in  Little  Queen  Street,  next  door  to 
the  Lutheran  Minister's."  Little  Queen  was  what  is  now 
Cedar  Street. 

Bell  does  not  mention  any  church  of  the  Presbyterian 
name.  That  denomination,  however,  was  in  New  York,  and 
possibly  Bell  included  the  churches  of  that  order  under  the 
appellation  of  the  "  Church  of  Scotland,"  of  which  he  says 
there  were  two.  The  "  Brick  "  Presbyterian  Church,  of 
which  the  eminent  Gardiner  Spring  became  pastor  in  1810, 
was  opened  for  worship  the  first  of  January,  1768.  The  first 
Baptist  church  in  New  York  City  began  about  1745,  "  in  oc- 
casional gatherings  of  Baptists  for  prayer  and  singing  in 
private  dwellings."    It  is  interesting  to  note  that  these  Bap- 


184 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMEKICA 


tists  hired  "  a  rigging  loft  in  Cart  and  Horse  lane,  a  thor- 
oughfare known  to  this  generation  as  William  Street,"  where 
they  assembled.  Whether  it  was  the  rigging  loft  in  which 
the  Methodists  afterward  worshipped  in  the  same  street  is 
not  determined.  "  A  site  for  a  church  building  was  selected 
in  1759,  on  Golden  Hill,  near  Fair  Street.  On  the  present 
maps  this  would  be  in  Gold  Street,  near  Fulton.  The  first 
Baptist  meeting-house  was  built  and  opened  for  public  wor- 
ship, March  14,  1760."  In  the  Revolution  the  British  occu- 
pied this  sanctuary  as  a  stable  for  "the  horses  of  their 
troopers."  * 

At  that  time  New  York  was  a  slave  city.  Not  only  was 
there  the  domestic  traffic  in  negroes,  but  the  city  was  also  a 
mart  of  the  slave  trade.  This  is  shown  by  the  following  ad- 
vertisement which  appeared  in  Weyman's  Neiv  York  Gazette, 
of  September  21,  17G1. 

A  PAECEL  OF   CHOICE   SLAVES 
Just  imported,  to  be  sold  on  board  a  sloop  at  Cruger's  "Wharf. 

The  New  York  newspapers  of  the  period  illustrate  the  do- 
mestic traffic  in  slaves.  The  advertisement  which  follows  was 
printed  in  The  Neio  York  Journal  or  General  Advertiser  in 
January,  1770. 

To  he  Sold  for  no  Fault  but  Want  of  Cash. 

A  likely  negi'o  man  and  a  wench  fit  for  a  farmer  or  any  private  fam- 
ily.    Have  both  had  small-pox  and  measles. 

In  the  same  newspaper,  July  12,  1770,  was  this  : 

To  BE  Sold  for  no  Fault. 

A  likely  negro  wench  about  eighteen  years  of  age.  Can  be  well 
recommended.     Enquire  of  the  printer. 

Slaves  were  then  sold  in  New  York  just  as  horses  were 
sold,  as  is  shown  by  the  last  advertisement  illustrative  of  this 
business  which  I  shall  insert.  It  appeared  in  the  same  jour- 
nal, March  29,  1770,  the  day  after  Pilmoor's  first  arrival  in 
New  York. 

*  Historic  Churches,  in  the  New  York  Mail  and  Express,  May  6,  1893. 


PILMOOK  VISITS   CAPTAIN   WEBB 


185 


A  Negro  Man  to  be  Sold. 

Has  been  used  to  both  town  and  country.  He  is  a  likely,  sober  fellow, 
and  to  be  sold  for  no  fault  but  want  of  employment.  A  stout,  brown 
horse  to  be  sold  at  same  place.     Inquire  of  the  printer. 

Methodism  in  America  rose  amid  slavery.  Boardman  and 
Pilmoor  encountered  the  institution,  and  preached  to  slaves. 
Not  until  many  years  afterward  did  the  North  adopt  emanci- 
pation. Methodism  met  slavery  in  New  York  and  in  Phila- 
delphia before  any  Wesley  an  societies  were  formed  south  of 
the  Potomac. 

We  are  now  to  see  Pilmoor  laboring  with  zeal  and  suc- 
cess in  his  first  pastoral  term  in  the  city  which  has  become 
the  vast  capital  of  the  western  continent. 

AVhen,  by  the  departure  of  Mr.  Boardman  for  Philadel- 
phia, the  two  preachers  were  again  separated,  Pilmoor 
wrote  :  "  It  would  be  a  special  favor  if  we  could  always  live 
together  in  the  same  city,  but  the  time  is  not  yet.  When  a 
few  years  are  past  we  shall  meet  in  the  New  Jerusalem,  and 
then  we  shall  live  to  part  no  more  forever." 

In  a  strange  town  and  among  strangers,  no  doubt  Pil- 
moor felt  a  degree  of  loneliness.  It  was  but  natural  that  he 
should  long  for  the  sight  and  the  fellowship  of  his  friend, 
Captain  Webb,  whose  home  was  not  far  away.  Not  many 
days  passed  before  Pilmoor  arranged  for  a  visit  to  the  vet- 
eran soldier.  "  Having  settled  all  my  afi'airs  in  the  city,"  he 
writes,  "  and  lieing  a  little  at  liberty,  on  Thursday,  the  nine- 
teenth of  April,  I  crossed  over  to  Long  Island  and  rode  with 
a  friend  to  Jamaica  to  visit  Captain  AVebb.  Our  souls  were 
comforted  together,  and  God  made  our  meeting  a  time  of  re- 
freshing from  his  Heavenly  Presence.  In  the  afternoon  I 
preached,  but  was  gi'eatly  straitened  in  mind.  God  with- 
drew the  comfortable  assistance  I  usually  enjoy,  and  my 
mind  was  so  embarrassed  that  I  found  it  very  hard  work  to 
preach.  It  is  with  me  an  easy  matter  to  talk,  but  to  preaxih 
is  beyond  my  power  unless  assisted  from  above.  In  the 
evening  I  returned  to  the  city,  and  was  somewhat  comforted 
in  meeting  the  society.     Friday  and  Satui'day  I  had  several 


186 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


opportunities  of  speaking  for  God,  and  was  greatly  refreshed 

in  my  soul." 

On  Sunday  the  twenty-second  of  April,  1770,  Pilmoor  en- 
joyed good  seasons  with  the  New  York  Methodists.  "In  the 
evening,"  he  says,  "our  congregation  was  very  large  and 
the  Chief  Shepherd  was  graciously  pleased  to  give  us  his 
blessing  of  peace." 

He  spent  some  time  the  next  day  in  reading  the  Old  Tes- 
tament in  the  original.'  This  scholar  of  Wesley's  Kingswood 
school  had  not  forgotten  his  Hebrew.  When  he  had  been  in 
America  less  than  four  weeks  he  wrote :  "  After  expounding 
at  live  I  began  to  resume  the  study  of  the  holy  language. 
My  reason  was  a  desire  to  be  more  extensively  useful  in  the 
world,  and  to  more  effectually  promote  the  glory  of  God. 
With  a  view  to  this  I  made  a  covenant  with  my  God  and 
promised  to  devote  my  all  to  his  service.  I  desire  to  have 
wisdom  for  my  portion  and  to  dwell  with  the  God  of  the 
Hebrews  forever  and  ever."  Now  in  New  York  on  April  23, 
1770,  he  again  shows  his  devotion  to  Hebrew  thus  :  "  Spent 
the  morning  in  reading  my  Hebrew  Bible,  and  was  glad  to 
drink  in  the  truth  from  the  pure  fountain  of  the  patriarchs 
and  prophets,  without  the  least  danger  of  human  interven- 
tion." The  same  day  in  addition  to  this  he  studied  Fox's 
"  Acts  and  Monuments." 

The  first  itinerants  sent  by  Wesley  to  America  were  not 
illiterate  men.  Pilmoor  especially  was  scholarly.  Less  than 
two  months  before  he  returned  to  England  he  wrote :  "  I  was 
greatly  comforted  in  reading  my  Hebrew  Bible  which  I  de- 
light in  more  than  all  other  books  in  the  world."  On  the  last 
day  of  the  year  1771  in  Philadelphia,  he  said :  "  I  resumed 
my  study  of  Greek,  which  I  had  been  obliged  to  drop  for 
some  time  on  account  of  various  business."  On  a  yet  earlier 
occasion  in  the  same  city  he  records  that  after  reading  a 
chapter  in  the  Hebrew  Bible  he  was  "much  comforted  in 
looking  over  the  lives  of  Archbishop  Usher,  Bishop  Bedell 
and  Mr.  George  Herbei*t."  During  his  first  term  in  New  York 
he  wrote:  "I  am  enabled  to  consult  the  Hebrew  oracles  with- 
out depending  altogether  upon  the  judgment  of  translators." 


pilmook's  eloquence  and  success 


187 


Pilmoor  s  manuscript  journal  is  almost  wholly  confined  to 
his  work  as  a  Methodist  preacher  in  America.  It  contains 
matter  sufficient  to  fill  several  hundred  printed  duodecimo 
pages,  and  the  writer's  culture  is  apparent  on  every  page.  It 
is  one  of  the  best  written  works  of  the  kind  which  Methodism 
has  produced  in  this  country,  and  it  w^ould  not  seriously  suf- 
fer from  a  comparison  with  the  best  diary  literature  in  the 
English  language.  Its  chief  defect  is  that  of  most  of  the 
early  Methodist  diaries,  namely,  that  it  is  not  sufficiently 
copious  with  respect  to  the  personahty,  labors,  and  history  of 
his  associates  in  the  work. 

In  Joseph  Pilmoor  the  infant  Methodism  of  America  had 
a  preacher  of  whom  it  had  no  need  to  be  ashamed.  His  na- 
tive gifts,  spiritual  qualifications,  theological  and  literary  at- 
tainments, and  power  of  utterance,  entitled  him  to  take  rank 
with  the  leading  preachers  of  the  country.  He  at  once  be- 
came a  tower  of  strength  to  the  Wesleyan  cause  in  the  chief 
centre  of  American  life  and  activity  in  that  day,  namely— 
Philadelphia.  In  New  York,  also,  as  we  shall  see,  he  was 
a  powerful  evangelical  leader.  His  physical  as  well  as  mental 
endowments  were  extraordinary.  "  He  had  a  fine  musical, 
deep-toned  bass  voice."  His  close  friend  Mr.  Latimer,  of 
Philadelphia,  says  that  Pilmoor  was  "  a  choice  young  man, 
and  a  goodly.  He  was  tall  with  well-knit  frame  and  firm  step. 
His  dress  at  this  period  comprised  a  broad  brimmed  hat, 
shad-belly  coat,  breeches  and  knee  buckles,  white  stockings 
and  a  profusion  of  long  hair  which  hung  in  graceful  Iqcks. 
A  voice  whose  volume  and  melody  w^ere  perfectly  marvelous 
enabled  him  to  address  vast  multitudes  with  ease." 

No  description  of  Pilmoor's  preaching  at  this  time  in  this 
country  seems  to  exist.  Some  time  after  his  return  in  1774 
to  England  he  was  stationed  in  Norwich  Circuit.  The  Wes- 
leyan Congregation  in  the  city  of  Norwich  had  been  so  much 
depleted  both  numerically  and  financially  by  the  Antinomian 
defection,  that  "  it  was  feared  ihe  chapel  would  have  to  be 
closed."  The  Wesleyan  historian  of  that  city  shows  the 
power  and  success  amidst  such  obstacles,  of  the  man  whose 
laborious  and  eloquent  ministry  did  so  much  for  Methodism 


188 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


in  this  land.  "  At  tlie  Conference  of  1777,"  says  this  author- 
ity, "Mr.  Joseph  Pihnoor,  at  his  own  particular  desire  though 
an  entire  stranger  to  us,  and  though  he  had  the  offer  of  the 
first  circuits  in  the  connexion  was  appointed  for  the  Norwich 
Circuit.  He  was  a  man  of  ardent  zeal,  of  a  vast  grasp  of  in- 
tellect, and  of  uncommon  eloquence.  The  chapel  w^as  soon 
filled  again,  great  numbers  of  respectable  people  took  pews, 
and  many  have  since  told  me  that  they  date  their  spiritual 
life  from  that  memorable  period.  Many  were  then  savingly 
converted  to  God  and  joined  the  society.  Mr.  Pihnoor  con- 
tinued with  us  two  years.  He  was  the  instrument  in  the 
hands  of  the  Lord  in  raising  the  society  to  such  circum- 
stances that  when  he  left  us  we  we  were  able  to  bear  our  own 
expenses."* 

The  Eev.  Walter  Griffith  was  an  eminent  Wesleyan 
preacher.  He  was  stationed  repeatedly  in  London,  and  also 
served  other  chief  circuits  such  as  Bristol,  Hull,  Manchester, 
Leeds,  etc.  In  1813  he  was  president  of  the  British  Confer- 
ence. At  the  Conference  in  1780  Mr.  Pilmoor  was  appointed 
to  Dublin.  The  first  time  he  preached  in  that  city  young 
Griffith  heard  him,  and  he  "  was  charmed  and  delighted  with 
the  minister  and  determined  to  join  the  society.  Shortly 
after  this  he  began  to  meet  in  class,  and  was  received  on  trial 
by  Mr.  Pilmoor,  September  4,  1780.  Toward  the  close  of 
Mr.  Pilmoor's  second  year  in  Dublin,  Mr.  Griffith  and  a  few 
of  the  most  serious  young  men  in  the  society  agreed  to  meet 
to  spend  an  hour  in  prayer  every  Sabbath  morning  at  five 
o'clock,  and  at  eight  o'clock  three  nights  in  every  week. 
These  were  the  beginnings  of  those  prayer  meetings  in  Dub- 
lin which  have  since  been  made  of  God  instrumental  of  eternal 
good  to  thousands."t  We  shall  soon  see  how  diUgently  and 
specially  Pilmoor  labored  for  young  men  in  America.  We 
here  see  the  influence  he  exercised  over  young  Griffith  in 
Dublin. 

*  A  Concise  History  of  Wesleyan  Methodism  in  the  City  of  Norwich  in  1754  with 
its  Progress  from  that  Period  to  its  Present  State.  By  W.  Lorkin.  Norwich  :  1825, 
pp. 


t  Memoir   of  Griffith,  by  the   Rev,  Edmond  Grindrod.     Wesleyan   Methodist 
Magazine :  February  and  March,  1827. 


BOARDMAN'S   culture   AND   POWER 


189 


Our  knowledge  of  Boardman  is  meagre,  but  no  doubt  he 
had  literary  as  well  as  spiritual  qualifications  for  his  work. 
Whether  he  knew  Hebrew  and  Greek  hke  his  associate  we 
are  not  informed,  but  Pilmoor's  references  to  him  and  his 
preaching  show  that  he  was  a  capable  and  even  powerful 
preacher.  Besides,  his  autograph  letters  reveal  his  mental 
abihty  and  rhetorical  skill.  I  have  read  a  few  of  those  some- 
what faded  documents,  traced  by  the  hand  of  the  devoted 
preacher,  and  have  therein  seen  the  evidence  of  his  literary 
training.  An  illiterate  man  could  not  have  written  Board- 
man's  epistles. 

Boardman  was  an  effective  preacher  in  the  true  sense.  His 
sermons  brought  souls  to  God  We  have  seen  this  fact  illus- 
trated in  the  notable  example  of  the  mother  of  the  emhient 
Dr.  Bunting  in  England.  John  Mann  w^as  converted  under 
Boardman's  ministry  in  New  York,  and  became  a  conspicuous 
preacher.  He  went  to  Nova  Scotia  as  a  Wesleyan  mission- 
ary, and  in  the  dark  days  of  the  Kevolution,  when  New  York 
was  without  a  Methodist  preacher  Mann  gave  important  min- 
isterial service  in  that  city.  As  the  first  missionaries  of  Wes- 
ley's appointment  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  did  a  work  and 
achieved  a  renown  in  this  land,  as  imperishable  as  Methodism 
itself.  The  first  time  their  names  appeared  in  connection 
with  America  in  the  English  Minutes  was  in  1770,  when  Pil- 
moor's name  stood  first,  thus  :  America :  Joseph  Pilmoor, 
Kichard  Boardman,  Eobert  Williams,  John  King.  In  the 
Minutes  of  1771  and  1772  Boardman's  name  was  first.  It 
has  been  understood  by  our  historical  writers  that  Boardman 
was  chief  from  the  beginning,  but  the  order  of  their  names 
in  the  British  Minutes  of  1770  would  indicate  that  Pilmoor 
w^as  then  chief.  The  fact  that  the  matters  pertaining  to  the 
New  York  Chapel  deed  were  formally  inquired  into  and  ad- 
justed directly  after  Pilmoor  reached  that  city  in  March, 
1770,  corroborates  this  view.  One  fact  would  indicate  that 
Boardman  w^as  in  control,  namely,  that  in  the  compact  for 
service  ho  made  with  the  Wesleyans  of  New  York  he  is  called 
the  Assistant  of  Mr.  Wesley. 

That  two  preachers  of  such  zeal,  diligence,  and  devotion  ; 


190 


THE  WESLEYAN  MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


of  sucli  intellectual  force  and  equipment ;  of  such  pulpit  elo- 
quence and  power ;  of  such  promptness,  energy,  and  skill  m 
action  and  administration  should  have  appeared  so  oppor- 
tunely on  the  new  field  of  Methodism  in  America  was  visibly 
providential.  They  cleared  a  path  for  its  march  to  its  vast 
continental  conquests  before  the  military  tempest  burst  upon 
the  colonies.  The  training  and  propulsion  which  they  gave 
to  it  prepared  it  in  a  degree  under  God  to  abide  and  to  sur- 
mount the  long  and  severe  revolutionary  ordeal.  By  their 
luiiiiuous  anti  unctuous  gospel  preaching,  and  their  faithful 
and  wi^^o  pastoral  supervision  the  embryonic  Methodist 
Church  m  America  was  much  invigorated  and  fortified.  It 
was,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  founded  in  new  and  important  cen- 
tres in  the  land,  as  Boston,  Baltimore,  and  Norfolk,  by  their 
labors.  The  fair  Wesleyan  tree,  whose  early  growth  they 
fostered  and  guided  and  which  has  attained  to  proportions  so 
vast  and  is  so  prolific  of  fruit,  became  well  rooted  in  America 
before  Asbury,  liunkin,  and  the  others  came  to  share  their 
toils. 


CHAPTEE  YI. 


PILMOOR,  WILLIAMS,  AND  WHirEFIELD  IN  NEW  YORK. 


The  labors  of  Joseph  Pilmoor  in  the  spring  and  early  sum- 
mer of  1770  were  not  exclusively  bestowed  upon  the  congre- 
gations that  gathered  in  John  Street.  He  was  a  true  mis- 
sionary, and  as  such  sought  to  save  men  wherever  he  could. 
He  ministered  to  condemned  felons  in  the  jail  and  to  the 
children  of  adversity  in  the  poor-house.  He  went  into  the 
adjacent  country  and  upheld  the  cross  to  the  view  of  the  rus- 
tic population.  He  preached  in  the  fields  and  in  domiciles, 
as  well  as  in  the  church. 

He  was  intelligently  interested  in  educational  and  ecclesi- 
astical afi'airs,  and  one  day  we  see  him  at  a  college  com- 
mencement and  on  another  at  a  convocation  of  the  church 
clergy.  We  shall  see  him  and  Robert  Williams  again  side  by 
side  in  New  York,  exulting  in  the  spread  and  success  of  their 
cause  in  the  country  regions.  We  shall  also  see  him  at  the 
side  of  that  wonderful  evangelist,  George  AVhitefield.  Pil- 
moor saw  that  the  important  strategic  centres  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  must  not  be  neglected,  and  therefore  as  the 
laborers  were  so  few  he  deemed  that  he  and  Boardman  were 
bound  by  the  exigencies  of  the  work  to  give  the  greater  part 
of  their  time  to  those  urban  fields,  until  ministerial  reinforce- 
ments should  arrive  from  England. 

We  see  Mr.  Pilmoor  initiating  a  rural  movement,  May  3, 
1770.  On  that  day  he  says  :  "  Mr.  Furbush,  a  particular 
friend,  took  me  in  his  chaise  to  Harlem,  a  place  about  eight 
miles  from  New  York  where  I  preached  to  a  small  congrega- 
tion with  great  freedom  of  soul  and  the  power  of  God  ap- 
peared to  be  very  present  among  the  people."  The  same 
evening  he  met  the  society  in  the  city. 


192 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


Two  days  thereafter  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Kev.  Johu 
Wesley  "  and  all  the  brethren  in  Conference."  That  epistle 
shows  the  state  of  the  work  at  that  time  in  New  York.  It  also 
exhibits  Pilmoor's  views  of  the  needs  of  the  country  districts, 
and  his  belief  that  it  was  impossible  for  himself  and  his  asso- 
ciate to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  cities,  and  at  the  same 
time  render  the  needful  service  to  the  rural  places.  In  this 
letter  he  gives  a  graphic  picture  of  the  condition  of  the  field 
in  those  primitive  days,  which  is  of  real  historic  interest. 
Addressing  his  "  dear,  beloved  brethren  "  Pilmoor,  under  the 
date  of  May  5,  1770,  says:  "As  it  hath  pleased  God  to 
send  us,  his  poor  unworthy  creatures,  into  this  remote  cor- 
ner of  the  world  to  preach  his  everlasting  gospel,  I  trust  you 
will  bear  us  on  your  minds  and  help  us  by  your  prayers  to 
fulfil  the  ministry  which  we  have  received  of  the  Lord.  We 
are  at  present  far  from  you,  and  whether  we  shall  ever  be 
permitted  to  see  you  again  in  the  body  God  only  knows. 
However,  though  we  are  absent  from  you,  yet  we  are  present 
with  you  and  I  hope  we  shall  continue  so  united  that : 

*'  'Neither  joy  nor  grief,  nor  time  nor  place 
Nor  Ufe  nor  death  can  part.' 

"  It  was  a  great  trial  to  us  to  leave  our  native  land  ;  more 
especially  to  leave  oui*  fellow  laborers  in  the  gospel  who  were 
more  dear  to  us  than  all  the  beauties  of  the  British  isle. 
Dear  brethren,  I  feel,  I  feel  you  present  while  I  write,  but  O 
the  Atlantic  is  between.  O  this  state  of  trial,  this  state  of 
mutability.  But  where  am  I  wandering  ?  This  is  not  our 
home.  This  is  not  our  rest.  After  a  little  while  we  shall 
rest  '  where  angels  gather  immortality  and  momentary  ages 

are  no  more.' 

"  Our  coming  to  America  has  not  been  in  vain.  The  Lord 
has  been  pleased  to  bless  our  humble  attempts  to  advance  his 
kingdom  in  the  world.  Many  have  beheved  the  report  and 
to  some  the  Arm  of  the  Lord  has  been  revealed.  There  be- 
gins to  be  a  shaking  among  the  dry  bones ;  and  they  come 
together  that  God  may  breathe  upon  them.  Our  congrega- 
tions are  large  and  we  have  the  pious  of  most  congregations 


pilmoor's   LETTER  TO   WESLEY 


193 


to  hear  us,  which  makes  the  Presbyterian  bigots  mad.  But 
we  are  fully  determined  not  to  retaliate.  They  shall  contend 
for  that  which  God  never  revealed,  and  we  will  contend  for 
the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints.  The  religion  of  Jesus 
is  a  favorite  topic  in  New  York.  Many  of  the  gay  and  po- 
lite speak  much  about  grace  and  perseverance.  But  whether 
they  would  follow  Christ  *  in  sheep  skins  and  goat  skins'  is  a 
question  I  cannot  affirm.  Nevertheless,  there  are  some  who 
are  alive  to  God.  Even  some  of  the  poor  despised  children 
of  Ham  are  striving  to  wash  their  robes  and  make  them  white 
in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  We  have  a  number  of  black 
women  who  meet  together  every  week;  many  of  whom  are 
happy  in  the  Love  of  God.  This  evinces  the  truth  that '  God 
is  no  respecter  of  persons  but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth 
God  and  worketh  righteousness  is  accepted  of  Him.'  The 
society  here  consists  of  about  a  hundred  members  besides 
probationers  ;  and  I  trust  it  will  soon  increase  much  more 
abundantly. 

"Brother  Boardman  and  I  are  chiefly  confined  to  the 
cities  and  therefore  cannot  at  present  go  much  into  the  coun- 
try, as  we  have  more  work  iipon  our  hands  than  we  are  able 
to  perform.  There  is  work  enough  for  two  preachers  in  each 
place,  and  if  two  of  our  brethren  would  come  over,  I  beheve 
it  woidd  be  attended  with  a  great  blessing,  for  then  we  could 
visit  the  places  adjacent  to  the  cities,  which  we  cannot  pretend 
to  do  till  we  can  take  care  of  them.  They  need  not  be  afraid 
of  wanting  the  comforts  of  life  for  the  people  are  very  hos- 
pitable and  kind.  When  we  came  over  we  put  ourselves  and 
the  brethren  to  great  expense  as  being  strangers  to  the  coun- 
try and  the  people.  But  the  case  is  different  now  as  matters 
are  settled,  and  everything  is  provided.  If  you  can  send  them 
over  we  shall  gladly  provide  for  them.  And  I  hope  in  a  few 
years  the  brethren  will  be  able  to  send  them  back  to  England 
according  to  the  appointment  of  the  Conference."  ^' 

Though  separated  so  widely  from  his  European  fellow- 
laborers  Pilmoor  kept  in  touch  with  them  by  means  of  episto- 
lary communication.     The  ties  of  the  old  brotherhood  were 

*  Arminian  Magazine,  London,  1784,  pp.  222,  3,  4 
18 


194  THE  WESLEYAN  MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 

still  warm  and  stretclied  unbroken  and  unstrained  across 
the  sea.  Seeing  the  urgent  need  of  more  laborers  he  called 
for  two  additional  preachers  to  come  over.  He  was  destined 
in  the  course  of  one  and  a  half  years  to  receive  and  introduce 
to  the  society  in  Philadelphia  two  new  missionaries  from  Eng- 
land. Until  then  he  and  Boardman  were  to  pursue  their 
work  and  provide  as  they  could  for  its  multiplying  exigencies. 

Pilmoor  "went  with  Mr.  James  Jarvis,  on  Wednesday 
the  ninth  of  May,  1770,  to  visit  two  condemned  prisoners  in 
the  jail,  but  he  did  not  get  much  satisfaction"  from  the  inter- 
view. "Though  I  spoke,"  he  says,  "with  the  utmost  free- 
dom and  plainness  they  seemed  to  be  quite  insensible  to  the 
things  of  God  and  religion.  When  I  had  done  with  them  a 
poor''  old  man  desired  to  speak  with  me  who  was  of  a  very 
different  spirit.  I  prayed  with  him  and  left  him  full  of  good 
desires  and  resolutions." 

He  visited  the  imprisoned  malefactors  again  on  the  12th 
of  May,  "  and  found  them  more  concerned  than  before."  The 
next  day—Smiday— after  preaching  at  seven  in  the  morning, 
he  attended  worship  at  St.  Paul's.  The  sermon  was  by  a  young 
man  whose  theme  was  General  Redemption.  Pilmoor  thought 
the  treatment  of  the  subject  defective  and  expressed  the  wish 
that  some  one  would  teach  the  youthfid  clergyman  "  the  way 
of  God  more  perfectly."  That  evening  he  "  was  much  en- 
larged at  the  preaching  but  much  more  at  our  love-feast." 
He^asserts  that  this  love-feast  "is  the  first  that  has  been  kept 
by  the  Methodists  in  New  York  and  the  Lord  was  remarkably 

present." 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  "  first  American  love-feast 
in  Philadelphia  "  was  held  on  the  twenty-third  of  the  preced- 
ing March.  Now  seven  weeks  later,  namely  on  the  thirteenth 
of  May,  1770,  in  the  evening  of  the  Sabbath,  after  public 
preaching,  the  first  love-feast  in  New  York  was  held  by  the 
same  fervent  preacher.  Of  the  occasion  he  says:  "We  felt 
the  softening  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  our  souls  were 
dissolved  with  love  in  the  presence  of  the  mighty  God  of 
Jacob."  It  thus  appears  that  Joseph  Pihnoor  gave  this  unique 
and  beautiful  service  to  the  Methodism  of  America. 


THE   EPISCOPAL   CLERGY 


195 


He  attended  the  Commencement  of  Columbia  College  in 
Trinity  Church  on  the  fifteenth  of  May,  and  heard  the  ora- 
tions of  the  students  "  previous  to  taking  their  degrees."  He 
was  much  pleased  with  one  on  Obedience  to  Magistrates  and 
Governors.  In  the  afternoon  he  was  again  in  the  jail  among 
the  criminals,  and  also  in  the  poor-house,  where  he  "heard  a 
Baptist  minister  preach  who  seemed  to  be  much  in  earnest  for 
the  salvation  of  his  hearers."  The  next  day  was  "  the  anni- 
versary meeting  of  the  Episcopal  clergy."  He  went  with 
"  great  expectations  "  and  found  much  disappointment.  "  The 
gentleman  who  preached"  he  says,  "  spent  more  than  twenty 
minutes  in  ransacking  the  whole  tribe  of  Levi  to  find  out  the 
power  of  the  keys  and  the  succession  of  apostolical  bishops. 
Such  labored  nonsense  may  please  the  vulgar  who  have  not 
an  opportunity  of  better  information,  but  can  never  satisfy 
men  of  understanding.  Every  man  of  reading  may  easily 
know  that  all  the  power  in  the  Christian  Church  is  derived 
from  Christ  and  he  had  no  connection  with  the  Levitical 
Priesthood  ;  for  it  is  evident  our  Lord  sprang  out  of  Judah 
and  was  a  priest  after  the  order  of  Melchisedec,  which  was 
long  before  the  order  of  Aaron." 

Pilmoor  persisted  in  his  attention  to  the  condemned  men 
in  prison  and  was  with  them  again  on  the  seventeenth  of 
May  when  he  was  gratified  to  learn  that  they  had  been  re- 
prieved. 

Yital  godliness  was  enjoyed  and  preached  by  some  Epis- 
copal clergymen  in  America  at  that  period.  One  such  Pil- 
moor met  in  New  York  on  the  28th  of  May,  1770,  when  he 
dined  in  company  with  the  Eev.  Mr.  Graves,  of  New  Lon- 
don. "He  is  a  choice  man  of  God,"  says  Pilmoor,  "and  a 
faithful  witness  for  Jesus  of  the  life  and  power  of  godlmess. 
His  conversation  was  truly  edifying."  As  we  have  hereto- 
fore seen,  Pilmoor  did  not  confine  his  public  ministry  to  in- 
door pulpits,  but  he  also  preached  in  the  open  air.  On  the 
thirtieth  of  May,  1770,  which  was  Wednesday,  he  "  had  a 
good  time  at  five  in  the  morning,"  and  "in  the  evening,"  he 
says,  "I  took  my  stand  in  a  convenient  place  near  the  city, 
and  published  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  to  a  vast  multitude  of 


196 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


attentive  hearers,  and  God  gave  me  his  blessing.  Hallelujah 
to  his  glorious  name ! "  On  June  first  he  writes :  "  I  preached 
abroad  again  and  endeavored  to  set  forth  the  amiable  perfec- 
tions and  glorious  offices  of  my  Master  Jesus,  and  had  some 
hope  my  labor  was  not  in  vain."  Pilmoor  is  described  in  "  Wat- 
son's Annals  of  Philadelphia"  as  "a  true  field  preacher." 

Williams,  that  active  and  unresting  itinerant,  whose  com- 
ing to  this  country  partly  on  business  was  so  opportune  and 
fortunate  for  the  infant  Methodism  thereof,  and  who,  respon- 
sive to  the  demands  of  the  work,  gave  himself  thereto  with 
so  much  devotion  and  abandon,  is  again  in  the  city.  On  Sun- 
day the  third  of  June  he  preached  in  the  John  Street  chapel. 
"  Robert  Williams  who  lately  came  up  from  Maryland  gave 
us  a  useful  sermon  on  the  ascension  of  Christ,"  says  Pilmoor. 
"  In  the  evening  I  declared  to  a  very  large  and  attentive  au- 
dience, '  He  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with 
fire.'  "  He  adds  that  "  Monday  and  Tuesday  [June  4th  and 
5th,  1770]  we  were  glad  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  opportunity 
of  preaching  morning  and  evening  as  on  Sunday." 

Pilmoor  had  a  poetic  order  of  mind  which  he  exemplified 
in  his  description  of  a  laurel  grove  and  of  a  morning  drive 
thereto  on  June  7,  1770.  He  says :  "  Having  often  heard 
of  the  grove  of  laurels  near  Kingsbridge  I  had  a  desire  to  see 
it ;  so  Mr.  Crook  agreed  to  go  with  me.  As  the  weather  was 
remarkably  hot  we  took  the  cool  of  the  morning  and  rode 
gently  forward  viewing  the  beauties  of  nature.  The  sun  rose 
with  majestic  splendor,  and  seemed  joyful  to  run  his  ap- 
pointed race.  The  pearly  dew  drops  like  studs  of  silver  hung 
upon  the  plants  and  flowers  as  if  designed  to  beautify  the 
face  of  nature,  while  the  stately  oaks  were  gently  waving 
their  lofty  heads  in  honor  of  their  Creator.  We  soon  reached 
the  delightful  spot,  which  far  exceeds  all  description.  The 
beautiful  laurels  arrayed  in  garments  of  unchangeable  verdure, 
and  decorated  with  a  rich  profusion  of  the  most  delicate 
flowers,  at  once  charmed  us.  Here  delighted  with  the  match- 
less beauties  of  the  place,  I  was  led  to  admire  the  infinite 
wisdom  and  power  of  God,  and  could  scarcely  forbear  joining 
with  the  justly  celebrated  Milton  in  his  Morning  Hymn 


AMERICAN  THUNDER  STORMS 


197 


(C    ( 


These  are  thy  glorious  works  Parent  of  good 

Almighty.   Thine  this  Universal  frame  how  wondrous  fair 

Thyself,  how  wondrous  then ? '" 

In  this  pleasing  excursion  he  seems  to  have  joined  work 
with  pleasure,  for  he  adds  :  "  In  the  afternoon  I  preached  at 
Harlem  to  a  very  polite  and  serious  congi^egation,  and  the 
Lord  enabled  me  to  preach  the  gospel  with  power." 

There  was  a  gracious  spiritual  visitation  in  John  Street 
on  the  eighth  of  June,  and  on  the  following  day  New  York  re- 
verberated with  startling  peals  of  thunder.  Says  Pilmoor, 
"  We  met  at  five  in  the  morning  and  God  graciously  favored 
us  with  his  presence  and  blessing.  On  Saturday  we  had  the 
most  tremendous  crack  of  thunder  that  ever  I  heard.  It 
burst  just  over  the  city  and  gave  the  astonished  inhabitants 
an  awful  proof  of  the  wonderful  power  of  the  infinite  God." 

The  electrical  phenomena  attending  many  of  the  summer 
showers  in  America  seem  to  have  impressed  solemnly  certam 
Englishmen  who  sojourned  here  in  the  last  century.    Pilmoor, 
not  in  the  above  instance  only  but  several  times,  describes 
them  in  his  namative.     Kichard  Parkinson,  an  English  travel- 
ler in  this  country  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  thus 
vividly  depicts  an  American  thunder-storm.     "  A  small  cloud 
appears  first,  and  very  quickly  gathers  and  blackens  the  sky. 
The  winds  begin  to  blow,  with  thunder  and  lightning  so  tre- 
mendous that  a  stranger  might  suppose  that  it  would  destroy 
everything  upon  the  earth.     The  thunder-bolts  will  split  the 
trees  in  the  woods  in  such  a  manner  as  was  very  surprising  to 
me  when  I  first  saw  it ;  and  made  me  believe  the  country  was 
ordained  by  the  Almighty,  a  proper  place  for  convicts,  as  it 
would  make  them  repent  of  their  former  sins."  ^     Mr.  Wesley 
when  he  was  in  Georgia  wrote  in  his  Journal  that  ''thunder 
and  lightning  are  expected  almost   every  day  in  May,  June, 
July,  and  August.     They  are  very  ten-ible   especially  to   a 

stranger." 

Williams  must  have  spent  some  time  in  and  around  JSew 
York  in  the  early  part  of  1770.     We  find  in  the  "  Old  Book '' 

*  Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  vii.,  p.  56. 


198 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


that  he  received  from  the  treasurer  of  John  Street  Chapel, 
five  pounds  and  eight  shillings  on  the  20th  of  March  of  that 
year,  which  sum  was  paid  him,  probably,  for  ministerial  service 
in  the  city  and  its  vicinage.  Twenty  days  previously  £3  6s-.  8d. 
was  paid  "  for  Mr.  Williams'  horse,  while  at  Douglas's  on 
Staten  Island."  Other  items  in  relation  to  Williams  occur  in 
the  book  during  the  spring  of  the  same  year.  It  seems  that 
he  itinerated  in  the  rural  regions  about  New  York.  Pil- 
moor  records,  June  15, 1770,  that  "  we  were  greatly  comforted 
at  the  Intercession  and  likewise  by  the  good  news  brother 
Williams  brought  us  from  the  country.  The  work  is  spread- 
ing as  far  as  New  Rochelle  among  some  French  Protestants 
who  fled  to  this  distant  country  for  the  sake  of  religion." 

Williams,  however,  felt  the  attraction  of  the  field  beyond 
the  Susquehanna,  where  the  extending  cause  urgently  re- 
quired laborers,  and  again  he  tiirned  his  face  thither.  Pil- 
moor  says,  Monday,  June  20th,  1770,  "Mr.  Williams  set 
off  for  Philadelphia  on  his  way  to  Maryland,  where  the 
sacred  fire  is  continually  spreading  wider  and  wider."  There 
is  reason  to  believe  that,  like  Webb,  Williams  proclaimed  the 
glad  tidings  according  to  the  New  Testament  and  Methodism 
in  vaiious  sections  adjacent  to  the  Hudson,  the  Delaw^are, 
and  the  Potomac,  in  advance  of  any  other  Wesleyan  preacher. 
He  was  the  flying  artilleryman  of  the  cause  in  the  days  when 
there  were  only  Boardman,  Pilmoor,  Embury,  Strawbridge, 
Webb  and  himself  to  man  the  batteries  of  Methodism  in 
America.  There  is  reason  to  believe,  from  Pilmoor's  state- 
ment above,  that  Williams  was  in  Philadelphia  for  a  short 
time  assisting  Boardman  in  the  summer  of  1770,  and  that 
he  went  theuce  to  Maryland. 

Robert  Williams  did  not  leave  any  documentary  record  of 
his  labors,  or  if  he  did,  it  has  disappeared  from  view.  A 
tradition  has  been  preserved  in  an  authentic  manuscript  of 
one  of  his  preaching  adventures  in  a  locality  in  Baltimore 
County,  now  embraced  in  Harford  County,  Maryland,  which 
is  strikingly  illustrative  of  his  method  of  promoting  the  cause. 
The  date  is  not  given,  but  the  event  probably  occurred  in 
1770,  as  Williams  went  to  Maryland  in  November,  1769,  and 


WILLIAMS'    PREACHING   ADVENTURE  IN   MARYLAND     199 


left  there  for  New  York  some  time  in  the  first  half  of  the 
year  1770.  The  account  is  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  WiUiam  M. 
Dallam,  a  son  of  Josias  Dallam,  who  was  one  of  the  earliest 
and  conspicuous  Methodists  of  Maryland,  and  it  is  preserved 
with  the  papers  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Kobert  Emory. 

Williams  "reached  our  home  on  Saturday,  having  come 
from  Baltimore,"  says  Dr.  Dallam,  "  and  the  next  sabbath  my 
father  took  him  to  the  Spesutia  Church  to  hear  the  stationed 
minister  there,  and  introduced  him  to  many  of  his  friends 
and  acquaintances  among  the  congregation. 

"  After  the  service  w^as  concluded,  my  father  proposed  to 
the  parson  and  vestry  that  Mr.  Williams  should  preach  in  the 
chui-ch.  They  all  objected.  Mr.  J.  G.,  who  owned  the  ad- 
joining land,  stepped  up  and  suggested  that  Mr.  Williams 
should  mount  an  old  tree  which  was  Ijingby  on  his  premises, 
adding  that  he  would  stand  near  and  protect  him  while  he 
delivered  his  sermon.  Mr.  Williams  consented,  and  took  for 
his  text  the  latter  part  of  the  sixth  verse  of  the  tenth  chapter 
of  Acts.  The  congregation  was  very  attentive  until  he  had 
proceeded  about  half  through  his  subject  when  one  of  the 
vestry  offered  a  man  a  gallon  of  rum  to  pull  him  down.  He 
rushed  through  the  crowd  and  did  so.  The  act  created  con- 
siderable confusion  and  some  of  the  incensed  assembly 
seemed  disposed  to  proceed  to  further  violence. 

"  At  length  it  was  agreed  to  decide  the  matter  by  vote. 
The  majority  were  favorable  to  his  continuing  his  discourse^ 
and  again  the  ambassador  of  Christ  mounted  the  fallen  tree 
and  proclaimed  the  awful  and  momentous  truths  of  the  gos- 
pel. By  the  time  he  had  concluded  several  of  the  congrega- 
tion were  struck  to  the  heart,  and  among  the  number  the 
Rev.  T.  G."  and  his  brother.  I  mentioned  the  above  circum- 
stance to  Mr.  G.  during  his  last  visit  to  the  county  and  asked 
him  if  he  remembered  it.  He  replied  in  the  affirmative  and 
corroborated  the  narrative  of  my  father  who  had  been  dead 
some  years." 

*  Dr.  Dallam  by  these  initials  probably  meant  Freeborn  Garrettson,  although  in 
the  manuscript  the  first  initial  letter  appears  in  the  form  of  a  T  rather  than  in  that 
of  an  F.     Garrettson  was  neither  a  preacher  nor  a  Methodist  at  that  time. 


200 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN    AMERICA 


The  Spesutia  Church,  where  the  above  scenes  were  wit- 
nessed, was  the  oldest,  or  one  of  the  oldest,  churches  in  Mary- 
land, and  was  near  to  the  spot  where  Garrettson's  Methodist 
Chapel  was  subsequently  built,  in  a  neighborhood  known  as 
Garrettson  Forest.  The  land  for  this  chapel  was,  it  is  said  in 
a  note  found  among  Dr.  Emory's  papers,  conveyed  to  the 
society  by  Freeborn  Garrettson.  Dr.  Dallam  says  that  Will- 
iams was  the  first  Methodist  preacher  who  visited  Harford 
County,  and  that  he  was  brought  to  the  county  by  his  father 
Mi.  Josias  Dallam.  Pilmoor  asserts  that  the  work  had  spread 
into  Baltimore  County  before  Williams  went  to  Maryland  in 
1769.  With  the  exception  probably  of  Strawbridge  and  pos- 
sibly of  Webb,  Williams  was  no  doubt  the  first  herald  of  the 
new  movement  in  the  County  of  Baltimore,  which  at  that  time 
included  what  is  now  Harford  County,  and  according  to  the 
tradition  recorded  by  Dr.  Dallam  Mr.  Williams  was  the  first 
Methodist  preacher  in  the  latter  county. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Smith  attributes  the  introduction  of 
Methodism  into  one  part  of  Baltimore  County  to  the  fact  that 
in  visiting  Strawbridge's  neighborhood  Samuel  Merryman 
heard  him  preach  and  as  the  result  was  converted  and  then 
invited  the  evangelist  who  did  him  so  much  good  to  visit  his 
neighborhood  about  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  away.  Straw- 
bridge  accordingly  went  there,  preached  in  Merryman's  house 
and  soon  after  a  class  was  formed."  Whether  this  was  be- 
fore or  after  Williams  preached  at  the  Spesutia  Church  lo- 
cality, which  was  also  the  place  of  Freeborn  Garrettson's  na- 
tivity, I  know  not,  but  it  must  have  been  near  to  that  time. 

Pilmoor  s  first  term  in  New  York  was  rendered  notable  by 
his  evangelistic  peregrinations  among  the  contiguous  rural 
communities.  More  than  once  he  preached  at  Harlem  and 
he  made  one  trip  there  to  visit  a  long  afflicted  woman.  On 
the  eleventh  of  June  he  preached  in  an  inn  on  Long  Island. 
Eleven  days  later,  in  compliance  with  a  pressing  invitation 
tu  preach  at  West  Chester,  he  with  two  friends  proceeded 
thither.  "  The  morning  was  calai  and  pleasant,"  he  writes, 
''  the  air  salubrious,  the  fields  adorned  with  grass  and  flow- 

*  Recollections  of  an  Old  Itinerant,  pp.  205,  6. 


WHITEFIELD   AND   PILMOOR   MEET   IN   NEW   YORK      201 


ers  and  the  valleys  stood  thick  with  com."  When  he  had 
travelled  about  fourteen  miles  he  met  a  young  man  who  was 
coming  to  conduct  him  through  the  woods.  He  dined  at 
Mr.  Bartow's,  "a  good  man  descended  from  a  family  of  French 
Refugees."  Thence  he  proceeded  to  Mr.  Bartow's  brother's, 
who  was  clerk  of  the  county,  and  then  rode  on  to  the  town, 
where  he  says,  "  I  preached  in  the  Court  House  and  found 
great  liberty.  After  sermon  went  home  with  Mr.  Smith's 
family  and  kept  meeting  in  the  evening."  The  date  of  this 
sermon  at  West  Chester  was  June  22,  1770.  We  shall 
quickly  see  him  going  to  the  country  again. 

Whitefield,  with  whom  Pilmoor  and  Boardman,  as  we  have 
seen,  enjoyed  a  profitable  and  memorable  interview  in  Lon- 
don shortly  before  they  sailed  for  Philadelphia,  and  who  left 
England  a  few  weeks  after  their  departure  therefrom  on  his 
seventh  and  final  voyage  to  this  country,  had  now  reached 
New  York.  Of  course  Pilmoor  could  not  fail  to  call  upon  the 
great  preacher.  On  June  27,  1770,  he  says :  "  I  had  the 
honor  to  wait  upon  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield,  and  congratu- 
late him  on  his  safe  arrival  in  New  York.  He  was  remark- 
ably loving  and  affectionate  and  desired  me  to  be  quite  free 
and  frequently  call  upon  him.  My  heart  was  closely  knit  to 
him  as  a  choice  messenger  of  the  Most  High  God  and  pecul- 
iarly favored  of  Heaven." 

Wesley  wrote  to  Whitefield  in  the  beginning  of  1770  in 
regard  to  his  preachers  in  America,  and  said,  "Who  knows 
but  before  your  return  to  this  country  I  may  pay  another 
visit  to  the  New  World  ?  I  have  been  strongly  solicited  by 
several  of  our  friends  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  They 
urge  many  reasons,  some  of  which  appear  to  be  of  consider- 
able weight.  And  my  age  is  no  objection  at  all,  for  I  bless 
God  my  health  is  not  barely  as  good,  but  abundantly  better 
in  several  respects  than  when  I  was  five  and  twenty.  But 
there  are  so  many  reasons  on  the  other  side  that  as  yet  I  can 
determine  nothing  ;  so  I  must  wait  for  further  light.  Here  I 
am,  let  the  Lord  do  with  me  as  seemeth  him  good.  For  the 
present  I  must  beg  of  you  to  supply  my  lack  of  service  by 
encouraging  the  preachers  as  you  judge  best  (who  are  as  yet 


202 


THE   WESLEY  A  ^f   M0VEME:N^T   IN   AMERICA 


comparatively  young  and  inexperienced)  by  giving  them  such 
advices  as  you  think  proper ;  and  above  all  by  exhorting 
them  not  only  to  '  love  one  another,'  but  '  if  it  be  possible  '  as 
much  as  lies  in  them  'live  peaceably  with  all  men.'  " ^' 

Pilmoor's  account  of  his  intercourse  with  Whitefield  in 
New  York  indicates  that  the  eloquent  evangelist  loyally  re- 
garded the  request  in  the  above  letter  of  his  cherished 
friend,  and,  as  he  had  opportunity,  encouraged  and  counselled 
the  preachers  whom  Wesley  had  sent  to  these  Western 
shores.  No  doubt  Pilmoor  and  Boardman  were  animated  by 
the  example  and  refreshed  and  inspired  by  the  fellowship  and 
preaching  of  ^Vliitefield  in  the  summer  of  1770. 

Wliitefield  preached  in  New  York  on  Sunday,  June  26. 
"I  began  at  six  o'clock,"  says  Pilmoor,  "that  the  people 
might  be  at  liberty  to  attend  him.  In  the  evening  he  preached 
again,  and  as  it  was  in  the  time  of  our  preaching  I  did  not 
think  proper  to  interfere  with  him,  and  therefore  did  not 
preach  in  our  chapel,  but  left  the  people  at  liberty  to  hear 
that  most  excellent  minister  of  Jesus  Christ.  Oh,  that  the 
great  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  souls  may  crown  his  faithful 
labors  with  abundant  success." 

The  presence  and  ministry  of  Whitefield  in  the  city  gave 
Pilmoor  the  opportunity  for  another  advance  upon  the  adja- 
cent country.  Accordingly,  on  Monday,  June  27,  he  says: 
*' As  IVIr  AVhitefield  was  to  stay  some  time  in  the  city  I  set 
off  for  Long  Island."  At  Newtown  he  found  a  fine  congre- 
gation, to  whom  he  gave  a  sermon  from  the  first  Psalm,  and 
he  declares  that  "  the  Lord  made  it  a  special  blessing  to  the 
people." 

The  last  sabbath  of  this  last  visit  save  one  of  Whitefield 
to  the  city  of  New  York  was  the  first  day  of  July.  He  was 
then  only  three  months  from  the  close  of  his  mortal  voyage. 
Seven  times  was  he  tossed  upon  the  stormy  Atlantic  in  com- 
ing to  toil  in  this  new  land.  Now,  with  outspread  sail,  he  was 
nearing  the  eternal  harbor  and  about  to  cast  anchor  within 
the  veil.  As  he  was  yet  in  the  prime  of  his  splendid  powers 
probably  he  did  not  suspect  that  his  barque  was  already  ap- 

*  Whitehead's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  344-45. 


whitefield' S   LABORS   IN   NEW   YORK   IN  1770 


203 


proaching  the  shores  of  heaven.  Indeed,  less  than  two 
months  previously  he  wrote  that  he  "  was  rather  better  than 
he  had  been  for  many  years."  This  Sunday  in  New  York 
was  well  improved.  Of  it  Pilmoor  writes:  "I  preached  at 
five  in  the  morning,  and  at  eight  in  the  evening  that  there 
might  not  even  seem  to  be  any  opposition  to  dear  Mr.  White- 
field,  and  God  gi'eatly  rewarded  me  by  converting  a  sinner. 
Unto  thy  name,  O  Lord,  be  all  the  praise." 

The  next  day,  July  2,  1770,  Whitefield  left  New  York  for 
Albany.  He  turned  his  face  northward,  and  proceeded  to 
compass  a  large  circuit  before  he  should  go  to  New  England, 
whence  he  was  so  soon  to  ascend  to  the  New  Jerusalem.  On 
the  occasion  of  his  departure  Pilmoor  wrote  :  "  Mr.  White- 
field  embarked  for  Albany,  and  intends  to  visit  the  people  in 
the  back  settlements.  Truly  he  is  in  labors  more  abundant. 
Many  condemn,  but  few  are  either  able  or  willing  to  imitate 

him." 

Of  his  journey  from  New  York  into  the  interior  of  the 
province  the  great  evangelist  wrote  :  *'  July  2,  1770.  Sailed 
from  New  York  with  Mr.  Kirkland  and  two  kind  old  friends, 
and  arrived  at  Albany  July  6.  Was  kindly  received  by  Mr. 
Bays  and  Dominie  Westaloe.  Preached  the  same  evening, 
and  went  the  next  day  to  see  the  Cohoes  Falls,  twelve  miles 
from  Albany.  O  thou  wonder-working  God.  Preached  twice 
on  the  Lord's  day  at  Albany  and  the  next  day  at  Schenec- 
tady, and  was  struck  with  the  delightful  situation  of  the 
place.  Heard  afterwards  that  the  word  ran  and  was  glorified 
both  there  and  at  Albany.     Grace,  Grace ! " 

As  Pilmoor  justly  said,  Whitefield  was  "  abundant  in  la- 
bors." He  saw  that  '*  the  night  cometh."  He  felt  what  Ten- 
nyson has  expressed, 

"The  tender  grace  of  a  day  that  is  dead 
Will  never  come  back  to  me." 

The  renowned  and  tireless  preacher  is  again  in  New 
York  for  the  last  time,  and  thence  he  wrote  to  his  friend, 
Mr.  Keen,  July  29,  1770 :  "  During  this  month  I  have  been 
above  a  five  hundred  miles  circuit  and  have  been  enabled  to 


204 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


preach  and  travel  through  the  heat  every  day.  The  congre- 
gations have  been  very  large,  attentive,  and  affected,  particu- 
larly at  Albany,  Schenectady,  Great  Barrington,  Norfolk,  Sal- 
isbury, Sharon,  Smithlield,  Poughkeepsie,  Fishkill,  New  Eum- 
bart,  and  Peekskill.  Last  night  I  returned  hither,  and  hope 
to  set  out  for  Boston  in  two  or  three  days.  O  what  a  scene 
of  usefulness  is  opening  in  this  New  World.  All  fresh  works 
where  I  have  been.  The  Divine  influence  has  been  as  at 
the  first.  Invitations  crowd  upon  me  both  from  ministers 
and  people  from  many  quarters.  A  very  peculiar  providence 
led  me  lately  to  a  place  where  a  horse-stealer  was  executed. 
Thousands  attended.  The  sheriff  allowed  him  to  come  and 
hear  a  sermon  under  an  adjacent  tree.  Solemn !  Solemn ! 
After  being  by  himself  about  an  hour  I  walked  half  a  mile 
with  him  to  the  gallows.  His  heart  had  been  softened  by  my 
first  visit.  He  seemed  full  of  Divine  consolations.  An  in- 
structive walk !  I  went  up  with  him  into  the  cart.  He  gave 
a  short  exhortation.  I  then  stood  upon  the  cofiin ;  added,  I 
trust,  a  word  in  season,  prayed,  gave  the  blessing,  and  took 
my  leave.  I  hope  effectual  good  was  done  to  the  hearers  and 
spectators." 

Whitefield,  before  going  to  New  York,  was  in  Philadelphia. 
As  Boardman  was  then  in  the  latter  city,  no  doubt  he  en- 
joyed the  society  and  ministry  of  the  celebrated  j)reacher.  In- 
deed at  that  time  Whitefield  preached  in  Boardman's  pulpit 
in  Philadelpliia.  A  Philadelphia  newspaper,  in  its  issue  of 
May  24,  1770,  said  :  "  Since  our  last  the  Bev.  Mr.  Whitefield 
has  preached  at  St.  Peter's,  St.  Paul's,  the  Arch  Street  Pres- 
byterian and  Methodist  Churches  to  crowded  audiences,  and 
this  day  he  proposes  preaching  at  the  Swede  Church  near 
Darby."  *  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  were  greatly  favored  in 
thus  coming  within  the  influence  of  this  illustrious  and  apos- 
tolic evangelist.  In  him  they  saw  a  model  of  zeal  and  of  labor 
and  also  of  simplicity,  fidelity,  and  power  in  the  proclamation 
of  the  gospel.     In  eloquence,  of  course,  he  was  inimitable. 

Of  his  work  in  Philadelphia  Whitefield  wrote.  May  24, 
1770 :  "  I  have  now  been  here  near  three  wrecks.     People  of 

*  Philadelphia  Journal  and  Weekly  Advertiser,  May  34,  1770. 


SECOND 


EXCHANGE  OF  BOARDMAN  AND  PILMOOR    205 


aU  ranks  flock  as  much  as  ever.  Impressions  are  made  on 
many  and  I  trust  they  will  abide.  Notwithstanding  I  preach 
twice  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  three  or  four  times  a  week  be- 
sides, yet  I  am  rather  better  than  I  have  been  for  many 
years' "  About  three  weeks  later,  namely  June  14,  he  again 
wrote  from  Philadelphia  :  "  This  leaves  me  just  returned  from 
a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  circuit,  in  which,  blessed  be  God,  I 
have  been  enabled  to  preach  every  day.  So  many  invitations 
are  sent  from  various  quarters  that  I  know  not  which  way  to 
turn  myself."  Had  Boardman's  journal  (if  he  kept  one)  come 
down  to  us  as  has  Pilmoor's,  we  should  probably  see  a  record 
from  his  pen  of  the  work  of  Whitefield,  and  of  personal  inter- 
course with  him  at  this  time  in  Philadelphia.  No  doubt  the 
Wesleyan  societies  in  both  that  city  and  New  York  received 
an  impulse  from  the  marvellous  evangelical  oratory  of  that 

wonderful  Apollos. 

The  week  of  the  departure  of  Whitefield  from  New  York 
was  to  Pilmoor  a  time  of  physical  affliction.  Amid  his  ill- 
ness however,  he  enjoyed  spiritual  consolation.  "On  Satur- 
day the  disorder  began  to  abate,"  he  says,  *'  and  I  found  my- 
self something  better.  This  was  a  trial  to  me,  as  I  had  got 
within  sight  of  the  harbor  and  wished  to  enter  in." 

The  time  is  now  at  hand  for  the  second  exchange  of 
Boardman  and  Pilmoor.  In  a  review  of  his  work  of  almost 
four  months  in  New  York  the  latter  saw  reason  for  rejoicing. 
The  twenty-third  and  twenty-fourth  of  July,  1770,  he  "  spent 
in  regulating  the  society,  and  found  abundant  cause  of  thank- 
fulness. Several  have  been  thoroughly  convinced  of  sin,  a 
goodly  number  have  found  peace  with  God,  and  believers  are 
greatly  built  up  and  strengthened  in  the  Lord.  The  word  of 
the  Lord  has  free  course,  and  prejudice  is  in  a  great  measure 
taken  away.  As  this  is  the  case  I  trust  my  dear  Brother 
Boardman  will  see  glorious  days." 

Pilmoor  was  to  meet  Boardman  at  Princeton,  New  Jer- 
sey He  left  New  York  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  July,  1770, 
and  advanced  toward  Philadelphia.  Several  friends  accom- 
panied him  as  far  as  Newark.  They  returned  to  New  York 
after  dinner,  and  Pilmoor  and  Mr.  Jarvis  went  on  to  New 


206 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT    IN   AMERICA 


Bronswick,  where  they  passed  the  night.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear that  Pilmoor  preached  in  either  Newark  or  New  Bruns- 
wick, which  were  then  small  toT\Tis.  The  next  morning  they 
reached  Princeton,  which  was  a  half-way  place  between  Phila- 
delphia and  New  York.  There  they  met  Boardman  and  some 
friends  from  Philadelphia.  After  two  or  three  hours  spent 
there  together,  Boardman  went  with  Jarvis  to  New  York,  and 
Pilmoor  went  forward,  as  he  says,  "  with  my  dear  Philadel- 
phians."  In  the  course  of  his  jouniey  Pilmoor  preached  at 
Birdington  [Bordentown,  as  I  believe],  in  a  Baptist  meeting- 
liuuse,  and  also  in  the  town  hall  in  Burlington,  New  Jersey, 
to  a  fine  congregation,  "  with  great  freedom."  The  service  at 
Burlington  was  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  July,  1770,  at  ten 
o'clock  in  the  forenoon.  The  same  evening  Pilmoor  reached 
Piiiladelphia,  just  in  time  to  preach  "  in  our  own  church." 
His  sermon  was  delivered  to  an  excellent  congregation,  from 
"  Peace  be  within  thy  walls  and  prosperity  within  thy  pal- 


aces. 


»» 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  PHILADELPHIA  HEROINE  AND  FIRST  METHODIST  DEACONESS- 
MARY   THORN. 

Early  Methodism  had  among  its  conspicuous  propaga- 
tors some  gifted  and  devoted  women,  whose  names  can  never 
die.  Of  these  was  Susannah  Wesley,  Avhose  piety,  insight, 
and  judgment  were  of  great  value  to  her  son  in  guiding  and 
promoting  the  new  revival.  But  for  her  interposition  it  is 
doubtful  whether  the  lay  ministry  would  have  been  organized, 
for  John  Wesley  at  first  did  not  approve  it.  His  mother's 
positive  declarations  in  its  favor  were  conclusive  with  him. 
That  lay  ministry  spread  the  cause  rapidly  over  the  British 
Isles,  and  planted  and  extended  it  on  the  American  shore. 

When  Mr.  Wesley  heard  a  complaint  of  the  irregularity 
of   Maxfield's  preaching,  he   hastened   to   London    to   stop 
it.       "  His  mother   then   lived  in   his   house    adjoining   the 
foundry.      When   he  arrived   she  perceived  that    his   coun- 
tenance was  expressive  of  dissatisfaction,  and  inquired  the 
cause.     ^Thomas  Maxfield,'  said  he,  abruptly,   *  has  timied 
preacher,  I  find.'     She  looked  attentively  at  him  and  replied, 
'  John,  you  know  what  my  sentiments  have  been.     You  can- 
not suspect  me  of  favoring  readily  anything  of  this   kind. 
But  take  care  what  you  do  with  respect  to  that  young  man, 
for  he  is  as  surely  called  of  God  to  preach  as  you  are.     Ex- 
amine what  have  been  the  fruits  of  his  preaching,  and  hear 
him  also  yourself.'     He  did  so.     His  prejudice  bowed  before 
the  force  of  truth,  and  he  could  only  say,  '  It  is  the  Lord ; 
let  him  do  what  seemeth  him  good.' "  *      Thus  originated 
that  mighty  arm  of  the  Wesley  an  system -the  lay  ministry. 
Besides  Mrs.  Wesley,  Methodism  in  England  had  at  an 

*  Life  of  Wesley,  by  Coke  and  Moore,  London,  1791,  p.  220. 


208 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


early  period  several  "  elect "  women,  who  were  notable  orna- 
ments and  helpers  thereof.  Lady  Huntingdon,  Lady  Max- 
well, Mrs.  Fletcher,  Hester  Ann  Kogers,  are  imperishable 
names  that  are  redolent  of  sanctity.  Among  the  "elect" 
ladies  of  American  Methodism,  Barbara  Heck  and  Mary 
Thorn  w^ere  foremost  in  time  and  in  usefulness.  At  a  very 
early  period  of  the  cause  in  America,  Mrs.  Thorn  became  a 
potent  and  heroic  instrument  of  its  advancement. 

It  appears  to  have  been  in  the  year  1770  that  she  became 
connected  with  the  infant  Wesleyan  cause  in  Philadelphia,  as 
in  a  letter  addressed  by  her  to  Drs.  Coke  and  Clarke,  July  29, 
1813,  she  asserted  that  she  had  been  a  Methodist  forty-three 
years.  By  subtracting  forty-three  from  1813,  we  have  1770, 
from  which  year  w^e  date  her  connection  with  Methodism. 

Lednum  gathered  a  few  traditions  of  Mrs.  Thorn,  some 
of  which  are  vindicated  by  old  manuscript  documents,  and  es- 
pecially by  her  own  autobiographic  narrative.     Born  in  Bris- 
tol, Pennsylvania,  she  settled  with  her  parents  in  the  South, 
where  she  married  a  Mr.  Thorn.     There  she  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Baptist  church,  under  the  ministry  of  the  Eev. 
Oliver   Hart.      An   autograph   letter  of   Mr.    Hart   to   Mrs. 
Thorn,  dated  Charleston,  April  1,  1772,  which  is  still  pre- 
served, show^s  that  he  held  her  in  high  regard  as  a  signal 
trophy  of  his  ministry.     He  refers  in  exultant  terms  to  her 
conversion,  calls  her  his  "very  dear  child,"  and  says,  "As 
such  I  must  still  address  you.     No  distance  of  time  or  place 
can  ever  make  me  forget  the  endearing  character  which  points 
out  the  relation  that  subsists  between  us  in  the  bonds  of  the 
gospel.     If  I  should  get  to  heaven  before  you,  and  should 
then  be  possessed  of  my  present  feelings,  I  would  on  your  ar- 
rival address  the  throne  of  glory  in  some  such  language  as  this : 
Heavenly  Father,  behold  a  child  w^hom  thou  hast  most  gra- 
ciously given  me,  given  me  in  an  acceptable  time  when  ray 
heart  was  much  discouraged  and  I  was  complaining— sure  I 
labor  in  vain  and  spend  my  strength  for  nought— even  then 
thou  didst  give  me  this  seal.    She  has  been  my  joy.    I  would 
now  humbly  claim  her  as  part  of  my  crown  in  these  sweet 
realms  of  bliss.    Father,  she  has  come  out  of  great  tribulation, 


MRS.    THORN'S   LETTER  TO   DRS.    COKE   AND   CLARKE      209 

has  washed  her  robes  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  May  she 
now  walli  before  thee  in  white  and  join  all  this  Heavenly 
throng  in  singing  the  wonders  of  redeeming  love  to  all 
eternity." 

Some  time  after  her  conversion  Mrs.  Thorn,  then  a  widow, 
went  with  her  parents  to  Philadelphia.  There  she  prayed  for 
divine  direction  in  seeking  a  house  for  worship.  While  mov- 
ing through  the  streets  in  her  search  for  one  she  came,  Led- 
num says,  to  a  place  where  Mr.  Pilmoor  was  conducting  wor- 
ship, and  she  entered  it.  "  She  was  soon  impressed  that  the 
Lord  had  heard  "  her  and  guided  her  there.  Mrs.  Thorn  in 
becoming  and  continuing  a  Methodist  encountered  persecu- 
tion. Her  loyalty  to  Methodism  was  demonstrated  by  her 
endurance  of  the  extraordinary  animosity  shown  to  her  by 
her  nearest  human  friends.  She  withstood  not  merely  de- 
sertion by  kindred  and  expulsion  from  her  church,  but  also 
physical  jeopardy.  Her  heroism  was  like  that  of  Luther's 
and  Wesley's. 

The  letter  to  which  I  have  already  referred  which  Mrs. 
Thorn  in  1813  addressed  to  Drs.  Coke  and  Clarke,  is  mainly 
autobiographic.  She  gives  in  outline  the  story  of  her  life  as 
a  Methodist.  I  do  not  know  that  any  portion  of  that  pathetic 
epistle  was  ever  in  print.  But  for  its  preservation  through  al- 
most four  score  years,  we  of  to-day  would  know  but  very  little 
of  the  heroine  Avhose  character  and  deeds  shed  lustre  upon  one 
of  the  early  pages  of  American  Methodist  history.  She  refers 
to  the  reproaches  of  the  early  Methodists  and  says :  "  Such  it 
was  when  Mr.  Pilmoor  and  Mr.  Boardman  planted  the  first 
Methodist  Church  in  America,  when  after  having  been  a 
member  of  the  Baptist  Church  seven  years  I  cried,  this  peo- 
ple shall  be  my  people,  and  their  God  my  God.  This  I  did 
not  for  honor,  since  in  their  meeting  I  was  struck  down  nearly 
lifeless.  At  the  hazard  of  my  life  I  was  pitched  through  a 
glass  door,  and  when  a  leader  of  three  classes  I  was  re- 
proached with  the  name  of  Mother  Confessor,  pelted  through 
the  streets  and  stoned  in  effigy.  It  was  for  this  that  one 
armed  stood  behind  the  class  door  to  kill  me,  till  the  Lord 
smote  him  with  a  better  weapon.  For  this  cause  it  w^as  that 
14 


210 


THE    WESLEYAIS    MOVEMENT   IN   AMEKICA 


my  husband  at  the  hazard  of  his  life  rescued  a  Methodist 
preacher  from  the  mob  by  slipping  him  through  a  window. 
For  this  cause  it  was  that  I  was  soon  called  to  make  as  great 
a  sacrihce  as  perhaps  human  nature  can  bear— to  forsake  a 
beloved  father  and  mother  for  the  cause  of  religion.  My 
mother,  alarmed  because  one  son  and  two  daughters  were 
under  convictions,  in  the  bitterness  of  her  soul  cried  out, 
'  These  birds  of  passage  have  bereaved  me  of  my  children ; 
they  will  all  be  in  Bedlam.'  She  then  interposed  her  author- 
ity and  said,  '  You  shall  either  forsake  the  Methodists  or  we 
will  forsake  you  and  leave  the  country.'  A  day  of  wormwood 
and  gall,  never  to  be  forgotten,  Avhen  my  mind  was  in  an 
agony,  and  that  word  of  our  Lord  thundered  in  my  soul, 
*  He  that  loveth  father  and  mother  more  than  me  is  not  wor- 
thy of  me.'  I  cried  out,  it  is  enough  Lord,  here  I  am,  do 
with  me  as  seemeth  good  in  thy  sight,  only  save  my  soul. 
Thus  I  gave  my  final  answer  to  my  dear  mother,  and  never 
saw  them  more.  This  I  suffered  only  for  Methodism,  their 
only  cause  of  offence." 

Mrs.  Thorn,  as  we  see,  became  a  class  leader  and  also  a 
band  leader  in  Philadelphia.  The  "  band  "  was  a  strictly 
close  meeting  composed  of  persons  of  one  sex.  It  w^as  de- 
signed for  a  fuller  narration  by  the  members  to  one  another 
of  the  temptations  and  inward  exercises  of  the  Christian  Hfe 
than  was  expedient  in  the  class  meeting  ;  and  also  for  appro- 
priate mutual  counsel,  admonition  and  prayer.  The  "  band  " 
long  since  fell  out  of  use  because  it  did  not,  like  the  class 
meeting,  supply  a  real  and  enduring  need.  We  find  that  in 
1790  there  were  signs  of  its  decadence  in  New  York  City. 
William  Jessup,  who  was  then  stationed  there,  in  his  manu- 
script journal,  November  25th  of  the  above  year,  says :  "  In 
the  evening  I  met  the  bands  in  the  church,  and  out  of  better 
than  twenty  there  were  but  three  that  spoke.  I  felt  some- 
what discouraged  and  exhorted  them  to  do  better  in  the 
future."  Methodism  has  wisely  modified  its  methods  as  ex- 
perience has  shown  to  be  necessary.  We  learn  from  Mrs. 
Thorn  that  in  the  early  Methodism  of  Philadelphia  the  band 
meeting  was  maintained. 


MRS.   thorn's   LEADERSHIP 


211 


The  Wesley  an  revival  gave  to  woman  large  opportunity  for 
service.  Mr.  Wesley's  attitude  respecting  the  question  of 
woman's  work  in  his  societies  was  pronounced.  Mrs.  Thorn 
probably  was  the  first  Methodist  female  class  leader  in 
America,  and  in  the  exercise  of  her  gifts  in  that  oflice  she 
was  in  harmony  with  the  views  and  teachings  of  Mr.  Wesley. 
Indeed,  as  we  shall  see,  at  a  later  period  in  her  life  Wesley 
himself  appointed  her  to  be  a  class  leader  in  London. 

While  she  was  active  as  a  Methodist  she  also  continued  in 
fellowship  with  the  Baptist  Church  in  Philadelphia.  This  was 
in  accordance  with  the  Weslcyan  pkn,  which  left  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  societies  free  to  remain  in  any  church 
to  which  they  had  previously  belonged.  Jesse  Lee  says  of  the 
early  American  Methodists :  "  We  were  only  a  religious  so- 
ciety and  not  a  church,  and  any  members  of  any  church  who 
would  conform  to  our  rules  and  meet  in  a  class  had  liberty  to 
continue  in  their  own  church."*  Here  Mary  Thorn  met  a 
singular  and  severe  trial,  which  in  her  letter  to  Drs.  Coke  and 
Clarke  she  graphically  and  pathetically  describes. 

*' While  a  leader  of  three  classes  and  two  bands,"  she 
says,  "I  remained  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  which  it 
may  be  remembered  was  not  inconsistent  with  Mr.  Wesley's 
first  intention  of  Methodism.  This  however  roused  the  elders 
and  deacons  of  the  Baptist  Church.  This  was  a  community 
that  I  highly  esteemed,  yet  for  the  Methodists  it  was  given 
up.  They  appointed  persons  to  reason  with  me  for  three 
months  to  resign  my  class  papers  and  to  renounce  the  Meth- 
odists. At  last  I  and  their  other  members  that  had  met 
amongst  the  Methodists  were  summoned  before  the  Associa- 
tion. We  were  called  and  examined  singly.  After  having 
stood  this  trial  we  were  placed  before  the  communion  table, 
where  the  ministers,  elders  and  deacons  sat,  and  after  an  ex- 
hortation, ten  of  us  standing  firm,  the  books  were  opened  and 
with  awful  denunciations  our  names  before  the  whole  congre- 
gation were  erased  out.  My  heart  being  fuU,  I  said,  Blessed 
be  God,  ye  cannot  erase  my  name  out  of  the  Lamb's  book  of 
life  ;  we  know  whom  we  worship.     The  sacrament  was  ad- 

*  History  of  the  Methodists,  p.  47. 


212 


THE   WESLEYAN  MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


ministered,  but  we  were  turned  to  the  left,  and  not  allowed 
to  partake.  But  I  can  truly  say  I  never  felt  the  Lord  so 
present  and  precious  at  a  sacrament  as  at  that  time.  Of  a 
truth  he  broke  to  my  soul  the  bread  of  life.  I  could  then 
and  I  can  still  say, 

"  '  Whom  man  forsakes,  Thou  wilt  not  leave 
Ready  the  outcast  to  receive.' 

This  was  another  sacrifice  for  the  same  cause. 

"  AVith  a  soul  full  of  joy  and  sorrow  I  returned  home  and 
found  Mr.  Asbury,  who  said :  '  Now  sister  I  will  give  you  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship.'  After  this  the  Eev.  Mr.  Percy, 
cousin  to  Earl  Percy,  was  directed  by  the  Eev.  Oliver  Hart 
to  persuade  my  revolt  from  the  Methodists.  This  I  also  with- 
stood." 

Mrs.  Thorn's  expulsion  from  the  Baptist  Church  on  ac- 
count of  her  devotion  to  the  Wesleyan  cause  probably  oc- 
curred in  1772  or  1773,  for  she  asserts  that  it  was  after  that 
event  that  Mr.  Percy  sought  to  induce  her  to  forsake  the 
Methodists.  Percy  and  Pilmoor  met  in  Charleston  and  there, 
in  his  journal,  Pilmoor  wrote  that,  February  20,  1773,  "he 
had  a  message  from  Mr.  Percy,  one  of  Lady  Huntington's 
ministers  who  is  just  arrived  from  England." 

Pilmoor  refers  to  "  mighty  tribulations "  which  a  female 
class  leader  in  Philadelphia  suffered.  It  is  highly  probable 
that  she  of  whom  he  speaks  was  Mary  Thorn.  In  Philadel- 
phia in  his  Journal  under  the  date  of  November  22,  1773, 
he  wrote  :  "  I  was  fetched  to  visit  one  of  the  leaders  who  has 
long  been  happy,  but  is  now  under  the  buffetings  of  Satan. 
I  spoke  freely  with  her  and  had  sweet  liberty  in  prayer,  so 
that  I  could  not  doubt  that  the  Lord  would  soon  bring  her 
out  of  all  her  mighty  tribulations  and  make  her  far  happier 
than  ever  she  had  been." 

It  was  such  heroic  faith,  fortitude  and  zeal  as  Mrs.  Thorn 
displayed  in  adhering  to  her  sense  of  right  that  gave  to  early 
Methodism  its  distinctive  power  and  made  it  so  aggressive 
and  victorious.  Such  a  heroine  whose  loyalty  to  her  convic- 
tions of  truth  and  duty  had  been  tried  in  the  very  fire  of  per- 


HOW  METHODISM  CONQUERED 


213 


secution  would  not  fear  the  devil  nor  his  cohorts,  whether  the 
latter  were  of  human  or  diabolic  shape.  There  could  not  be 
failure  of  a  cause  which  was  led  by  souls  of  such  apostoUc  and 
martyr  mould  and  temper.  Mary  Thorn  would  not  have 
shrunk  from  the  stake  and  its  flames,  had  she  met  the  dread 
alternative.  The  Wesleyan  system  and  doctrines  were  excel- 
lently adapted  to  promote  evangelical  enterprise  and  to  win 
the  approval  and  sympathy  of  the  multitude,  yet  they  could 
not  have  given  to  Methodism  its  unparalleled  sway  in  the 
land,  but  for  that  vital  experience  and  power  which  made 
even  timid  woman  invincible  in  the  presence  of  derision, 
bodily  peril  and  abandonment  by  her  parents  and  her 
church.  The  early  Methodists  triumphed  by  their  faith, 
with  which  they  became  *' mighty  through  God."  They  were 
of  that  army  of  the  faithful,  "who  through  faith  subdued 
Kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness,  obtained  promises,  stopped 
the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  escaped 
the  edge  of  the  sword,  out  of  weakness  were  made  strong, 
waxed  valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  flight  the  armies  of  the 
aliens."  The  Samson  lock  in  which  lay  their  strength  was 
the  experimental  religion  of  which  they  testified— a  religion 
which  was  "not  in  word  but  in  power,"  which  was  "peace 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  Shorn  of  this  experience  and 
of  their  testimony  thereto  the  Methodists  would  have  been 
as  weak  as  other  men. 

In  the  letter  to  Mrs.  Thorn  from  her  former  Baptist 
pastor,  the  Eev.  Oliver  Hart,  of  Charleston,  dated  April  1, 
1772,  there  is  indication  of  the  fact  of  her  rejection  by  her 
family  on  account  of  her  Methodism,  and  of  the  necessity 
which  was  upon  her  to  earn  a  subsistence.  He  speaks  of  her 
as  suffering  "  great  tribulation,"  and  he  also  says  :  "  So  you 
intend  to  travel  with  a  lady.  I  hope  it  may  be  to  your  ad- 
vantage on  all  accounts.  But,  pray,  why  are  you  never  to 
return  to  America  again  ?  Suppose  your  relatives  take  no 
notice  of  you,  there  are  many  others  who  esteem  you.  I 
thought  when  you  left  Charleston  you  were  to  have  returned 
hither  again.  You  will  find  it  much  harder  living  in  Europe 
than  in  America,  and  you  are  not  calculated  to  go  through  a 


214 


THE    VVESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


great  deal  of  hard  labor.  However,  I  hope  God  will  direct 
you  for  the  best.  Peace  be  with  you.  I  am,  yours  in  our 
Immanuel." 

Oliver  Hart  was  a  conspicuous  preacher  and  patriot.  He 
joined  a  Baptist  church  in  1741,  in  his  native  Pennsylvania, 
when  in  his  eighteenth  year.  He  heard  the  wonderful  gos- 
pel eloquence  of  Whitefield,  and  also  the  preaching  of  the 
Tennents.  In  1750  he  was  installed  as  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
church  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in  whose  service  he 
labored  above  thirty  years.*  Ardently  devoted  to  liberty, 
he  became  prominent  in  the  cause  of  American  independ- 
ence. In  1775  the  Council  of  Safety  appointed  him  to  travel 
in  the  interior  of  South  Carolina  to  represent  the  political 
situation.  When,  in  1780,  Charleston  was  suirendered  to 
the  British,  Mr.  Hart  went  north,  and  in  December  of  that 
year  became  pastor  of  the  Baptist  church  at  Hopewell,  New 
Jersey,  which  relation  he  sustained  to  the  close  of  his  life, 
which  was  on  the  last  day  of  1795,  in  his  seventy-third  year. 
His  piety  was  reputed  as  not  only  genuine,  but  eminent.  His 
sermons  were  "a  happy  assemblage  of  doctrinal  truths,  set  in 
an  engaging  light  and  enforced  with  convincing  arguments." 
He  was  a  winner  of  souls.  The  Bev.  Dr.  Samuel  Stillman, 
of  Boston,  one  of  the  most  pious  and  popular  preachers  in 
New  England,  was  awakened  under  Mr.  Hart's  preaching 
in  Charleston,  joined  his  church,  and,  after  completing  his 
classical  studies,  was  a  divinity  student  under  Hart.  Such 
was  the  man  who  rejoiced  in  Mary  Thorn  as  a  seal  to  his 
ministry.  She  was  one  of  the  foremost  of  American  women 
in  religious  labor  and  usefulness.  When  Hart  approached 
the  dying  hour,  he  '*  called  upon  all  around  him  to  help  him 
praise  the  Lord  for  what  He  had  done  for  his  soul.  Being 
told  that  he  Avould  soon  join  the  company  of  the  saints  and 
angels,  he  replied  '  Enough  !  Enough  ! '  "  t  His  relation  to 
Mrs.  Thorn  in  the  opening  of  her  Christian  career,  and  his 
epistolary  intercourse  with  her  subsequently,  connects  him 
with  our  narrative.  Through  her  he  contributed  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  Methodism  in  both  America  and  Europe. 

*  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Baptist  Pulpit,  p.  48.  t  Ibid. 


THE  FIRST  METHODIST  DEACONESS 


215 


It  seems  probable  that  Mrs.  Thorn  did  not  go  to  Europe, 
as  Hart  indicates  it  was  then  her  purpose  to  do,  but  rather 
she  remained  and  toiled  in  the  Wesley  an  revival  in  Philadel- 
phia. Lednum  says  that  "she  supported  herself  by  teach- 
ing a  school."  He  says  "  she  lived  near  the  corner  of  Broad 
and  Mulberry  Streets,  and  often  did  Boardman,  Pilmoor, 
Asbury,  and  others  of  the  early  laborers,  turn  into  her  house 
for  retirement  and  intercourse  with  heaven."  We  shall  pres- 
ently see  that  when  the  soldiers  appropriated  St.  George's  to 
their  use  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  her  house  became  their 
place  of  worship. 

Mrs.  Thorn  was  not  only  a  class  leader,  but  she  had  the 
charge  of  three  separate  Methodist  classes  in  Philadelphia  at 
one  time,  and  also  of  two  bands.  This  fact  affords  indica- 
tion of  her  uncommon  gifts  and  of  the  extent  of  her  religious 
activity.  It  appears  that  at  another  time  she  had  but  two 
classes.  In  one  of  his  autograph  letters  to  her,  which  is  yet 
preserved,  Boardman  says :  "I  am  glad  you  have  two 
classes ;  I  should  have  no  objection  against  your  having 
three.  There  is  a  v/ide  difference  between  being  tired  oj\ 
and  tired  in,  the  service  of  God.  However,  I  hope  both 
classes  will  be  taken  from  you  the  moment  you  think  your- 
self sufficient  to  be  a  leader.  I  look  upon  a  deep  sense  of 
insufficiency  as  a  necessary  qualification  of  a  class  leader. 
It  is  better  to  wear  out  than  to  rust  out.  God  will  not  for- 
get the  work  of  faith,  the  patience  of  hope,  and  the  labor  of 
love.  .  .  .  Do  remember  me  in  the  kindest  manner  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  AVallace,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dove  and  Robinson, 
Wilmers,  and  to  all  and  every  one  of  your  girls.  May  you  be 
happy  together." 

The  reference  in  this  letter  to  Mrs.  Thorn's  girls  appears 
to  corroborate  the  statement  of  Lednum  that  she  earned  a 
temporal  support  by  teaching.  The  presumption,  therefore, 
is  that  she  taught  a  school  of  girls  in  Philadelphia. 

Mrs.  Thorn  was  not  onlv  abundant  in  labors  in  St. 
George's,  but  she  also  gave  herself  with  brave  devotion  to 
the  more  general  and  less  agreeable  work  of  the  Christian 
vineyard.      She  was  the  first  Methodist  deaconess  in  this 


216 


THE   WESLEYAX   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


BOA  RDM  AN   AND   PILMOOR   WRITE   TO   MRS.   THORN     217 


couDtry  of  which  we  have  record.  Though  she  did  not  bear 
the  name,  she  did  the  work.  She,  too,  is  a  worthy  example 
of  the  lately  established  order  of  deaconess  in  Methodism— 
an  order  which  is  increasingly  important  and  useful  because 
of  the  sympathetic  and  Christ-Hke  ministry  it  renders  through 
gentle  and  saintly  womanhood  to  the  suffering  and  the  per- 
ishing. 

War  and  pestilence  caused  great  occasion  in  Philadelphia 
for  the  exercise  of  the  beneficent  activity  of  seK-sacrificing 
workers  for  Him,  who,  from  his  white  judgment  throne,  shall 
say  to  his  servants,  "  I  was  sick  and  ye  visited  me."  Mrs. 
Thorn  asserts  that  "  w^hen  Philadelphia  was  besieged  by  the 
war,  the  famine,  and  the  plague,  I  took  my  life  in  my  hand, 
and  by  day  and  by  night  visited  the  hospitals  and  the  sick 
and  the  dying,  w^hether  by  w^ounds  or  the  plague,  when  not 
the  nearest  friend  would  approach  because  of  the  infection. 
Thus,  by  attending  them  in  their  extremity,  I  sometimes  had 
the  consolation  of  seeing  them  die  happy.  This  I  continued 
till  the  Methodist  chapel  the  soldiers  made  into  a  riding- 
school,  and  my  house  became  their  chapel."  ^ 

It  was  during  the  occupancy  of  Mrs.  Thorn's  house  for 
worship  by  the  Methodists  that  she  formed  an  acquaintance 
with  Captain  Parker,  who  became  her  husband.  The  gen- 
eral accuracy  of  Lednum  in  the  brief  sketch  he  gives  of  her 
history  is  illustrated  by  his  assertion  that  some  time  before 
the  w^ar  of  Independence  closed  "  she  married  Captain 
Parker  and  they  w^ent  to  England."  These  facts  her  own 
epistolary  narrative  attests.  Her  departure  to  England  oc- 
curred in  1778,  as  we  know  by  her  statement  that  Thomas 
Eankin,  whom  Wesley  placed  in  charge  of  the  American 
work  in  1773,  returned  in  the  same  ship. 

"  Mr.  Parker's  ship,"  she  says,  "  returning  to  England, 
Mr.  Eankin  and  other  preachers  then  came  with  us,  having  a 
present  made  of  their  passage.  All  the  way  over  we  had 
singing,  preaching  and  class  meetings." 

She  subsequently    deplored    having    left    Philadelphia. 

*  Autobiographic  letter  of  Mrs.  Thorn  (then  Mrs.  Parker)  to  Drs.   Coke  and 
Clarke,  dated  Liverpool,  21  Bridport  Street,  July  29,  1813.     In  MS. 


"  Here  I  did  wrong,"  she  declares.  "  Though  at  that  time 
surrounded  by  war  and  bloodshed  I  should,  as  Mr.  Asbury 
then  did,  have  stood  my  ground  and  not  have  fled.  I  w^as  ac- 
companied to  the  ship  by  a  number  of  w^eeping  friends." 

According  to  Rankin's  statement  they  sailed  to  Cork. 
Boardman,  who  had  left  America  more  than  four  years  pre- 
viously, was  then  on  the  Cork  circuit.  "  At  Cork,"  she  says, 
"  my  old  friend  Mr.  Boardman  introduced  me  to  Mr.  AVesley, 
with  whom  and  the  Methodist  preachers  w^e  lived  on  terms  of 
particular  intimacy,  for  then  my  husband  w^as  a  person  of 
property,  had  a  good  ship  at  sea,  money  in  the  funds,  and  his 
house,  his  purse  and  his  heart  were  open  to  all  the  preachers 
and  the  cause.  Mr.  Wesley  appointed  him  a  steward  for 
Gravel  Lane  chapel,  London,  and  me  a  class-leader,  and  so  at 
Scarborough,  Yorkshire,  where  my  husband  was  steward  and 
trusteee  and  myself  leader  of  two  classes.  Here  also  and  at 
Newby  our  house  was  a  welcome  and  a  frequent  home  for  the 
preachers  and  their  families.  Thus  we  went  on  receiving 
and  doing  all  the  good  we  could.'* 

There  are  several  autograph  epistles  in  existence  which  I 
have  examined,  that  were  addressed  to  Mrs.  Thorn  by  her  two 
friends  and  pastors  in  Philadelphia,  Boardman  and  Pilmoor. 
They  show  the  prominence  of  this  "  elect  lady,"  and  the  high 
place  she  held  in  their  friendship.  The  letters  addressed  to 
her  by  Boardman,  of  whom  we  have  but  scant  memorials, 
illustrate  the  mental  and  religious  character  of  the  man.  None 
of  his  letters  to  her,  however,  show  the  year  in  which  they 
were  written.  In  every  instance  but  one  he  gives  the  date 
of  the  month,  but  always  omits  the  year.  A  brief  letter 
from  him  to  Mrs.  Thorn  is  dated  simply  November  13,  and  is 
as  follows : 

"  My  Dear  Friend : 

"  Last  Thursday  I  left  York  and  through  mercy  got  safe 
to  Trenton  this  morning.  Think  to  stay  in  this  round  till 
the  cold  drives  me  away.  How  much  to  be  wished  for  is  the 
haven  of  eternal  rest  where  toil,  temptation,  and  affliction  will 
all  be  over ;  where  we  shall  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  admire 


\ 


218  THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  I^  AMERICA 

and  praise  forever.  Things  go  well  in  York.  Hope  before 
long  to  see  Philadelphia.  Kind  love  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dowers, 
Mrs.  Robinson." 

This  epistle  was  probably  written  in  1772  and  certainly 

not  later  than  1773. 

One  of  the  letters  of  Pilmoor  to  Mrs.  Thorn  was  written 
after  his  return  to  England.  It  is  dated  Kingswood,  April 
9,  1775,  and  is  directed  to  "  Mrs.  Mary  Thorn,  at  Mr.  Dow- 
er's, Arch  Street,  Philadelphia."     Pihnoor  therein  says : 

"  Dear  Molly, 

"  Fifteen  months  are  elapsed  since  I  had  the  happiness  of 
seeing  my  dear  Philadelphians  and  as  much  since  I  heard  from 
you.  I  think  I  gave  you  an  opportunity  of  hearing  from  me 
which  might  have  been  acknowledged  if  all  things  had  been 
well.  Suppose  you  think  I  had  missed  my  way,  you  should 
give  me  timely  warning  and  invite  me  to  return.  No  more 
than  I  might  have  expected  from  one  who  has  expressed  a 
tender  regard  for  my  present  and  future  happiness.  My  chil- 
dren should  not  disown  me,  for  though  I  am  absent  from 
them,  I  am  their  father  still.  .  .  I  am  at  present  fully  re- 
solved to  go  forward  after  Jesus  Christ,  and  expect  to  meet 
you  by  and  by  either  in  the  western  world  or  in  the  world 
above  us.  In  this  we  enjoy  much  happiness,  but  in  that  there 
is  fullness  of  bliss.     May  the  Redeemer  bless  you." 

In  one  of  the  letters  of  Boardman  to  Mrs.  Thorn  he  gave 
her  some  pertinent  religious  advice  and  encouragement. 
Among  the  counsels  he  gave  her  were  the  following  : 

"  I  received  your  very  welcome  favor  a  few  days  ago  and 
was  not  a  little  glad  to  hear  from  you.  You  need  to  have 
made  no  apology  for  its  length,  seeing  the  longer  the  better. 
I  still  find  you  harping  on  the  same  string,  an  evil  heart,  un- 
belief, and  a  variety  of  (shall  1  say  ?)  very  pleasing  com- 
plaints. When  you  read  the  Bible  I  intend  sending  you  the 
first  opportunity,  perhaps  it  may  lead  you  to  think  you  lived 
in  the  days  of  old  David  or  Jeremiah  the  prophet,  and  that 


BOARDMAN  COUNSELS  MARY  THORN 


219 


David  after  hearing  your  experience  wrote  the  forty-second 
Psalm.  It  is  a  true  maxim,  '  the  man  is  known  by  his  com- 
pany.' Don't  fall  out  with  yours.  David  is  now  in  heaven 
after  all  his  complaints  and  unreasonable  fears,  and  if  you 
and  I  get  there  too  I  doubt  not  we  shall  be  ashamed  of  our 
doubts  and  complaints  and  wonder  at  our  ignorance  and  pre- 
sumption in  daring  to  question  His  faithfulness  and  love  to- 
ward us. 

"  We  have  need  to  do  all  we  can  for  God,  our  neighbor 
and  ourselves.  He  that  watereth  shall  be  watered.  I'll  tell 
thee  what,  my  dear  Polly,  the  Devil  is  too  expert  in  the  art  of 
reasoning  to  be  made  a  fool  of.  Reasoning  with  is  meeting 
the  Devil  on  his  own  ground  where  he  is  sure  to  conquer. 
You  say  you  know  this  to  be  true.  I  hope  then  you  are  not 
enchanted,  but  will  now  quit  the  field,  and  for  the  future  fight 
the  Lord's  battles  as  he  himself  directs.  Put  on  the  whole 
armor  of  God,  as  described  Eph.  6-12." 

Another  letter  from  Boardman  to  Mrs.  Thorn  was  dated 
New  York,  September  9,  the  year  being  omitted.  It  Avas,  how- 
ever, almost  certainly  1773,  as  he  speaks  of  "going  home," 
which  he  did  at  the  opening  of  the  following  year.  This  let- 
ter opens  thus  : 

"  How  little  do  we  know  of  the  purposes  of  God  concern- 
ing us.  We  still  seem  undetermined  with  regard  to  our 
going  home.  Perhaps  it  is  best  so.  May  it  teach  us  to  have 
no  will  of  our  own.  God  begins  to  revive  his  work  here.  I 
think  there  is  a  pretty  general  quickening  in  the  society.  A 
few  have  lately  found  peace  with  God.  I  find  it  is  good  to 
plow  and  sow  in  hope.     The  time  of  gathering  in  will  come." 

How  Avonderful  has  been  the  ingathering  in  the  Wesleyan 
department  of  the  Christian  fold  in  America  since  those 
prophetic  words  dropped  from  Boardman's  pen. 

Mrs.  Thorn's  was  a  very  noble  and  useful,  and  yet  a 
somewhat  calamitous  career.  In  the  eariy  part  of  her  life  as 
a  Methodist  she,  like  St.  Paul,  ''suffered  the  loss  of  all  things  " 
for  her  conscientious  devotion  to  a  humble  but  holy  cause. 
To  that  cause  she  gave  her  consecrated  talents,  and  in  its  ser- 
vice she  must  have  wielded  a  very  positive  religious  power  in 


220 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


Philadelphia.  For  a  period  she  enjoyed  honor  and  compe- 
tence, if  not  opulence.  But  through  all  she  held  on  her  way 
as  a  leading  woman  in  the  Wesleyan  movement.  It  was  her 
privilege  to  be  associated  in  friendship  and  work  with  Wes- 
ley, with  Pilmoor,  Boardman,  Asbury,  Kankin,  Shadford  and 
other  luminaries  of  the  Methodist  firmament  in  two  hemi- 
spheres. Then  the  blasts  of  adversity  smote  her.  Repeated 
disasters  swept  away  Captain  Parker's  worldly  possessions 
and  stripped  the  grand  heroine  at  his  side  of  temporal  pro- 
vision for  her  closing  years.  "  We  lost  ship  after  ship,"  she 
wrote,  "  till  we  lost  our  all  and  were  reduced  to  poverty.  So 
we  continue  still,  grappling  with  extreme  poverty  and  the  in- 
firmities of  old  age.  All  our  dependence  is  on  our  son." 
There  was  in  God's  good  Providence  one  earthly  consolation 
and  support  left  to  this  valiant  saint  in  her  age  and  penury — 
the  son  whom  she  calls,  "  the  stay  and  staff  of  our  old  age." 
Thus  the  darkness  though  dense  was  pierced  by  a  star.  Nay, 
more,  her  faith  remained,  and  she  yet  could  send  forth  from 
her  storm-swept  spirit  one  of  her  early  and  exultant  strains, 
"  Whom  man  forsakes  thou  wilt  not  leave."  Beyond  the 
roar  and  shock  of  tempests  and  billows  lay  the  peaceful  shore 
of  the  "better  country,"  radiant,  verdant,  blooming,  in  whose 
tearless,  blissful,  and  endless  serenity  the  rudely  buffeted 
soul  of  Mary  Thorn  was  to  find  calm  repose  forever.  Out 
of  various  and  great  tribulations  this  saintly  woman,  to  w^hom 
Methodism  owed  so  much,  passed  at  last  to  her  mansion  and 
crown  in  the  jewel-walled  city  of  pure  gold.  She  died,  accord- 
ing to  Lednum,  "  in  the  Methodist  faith,"  which  through  all 
vicissitude  and  sorrow  she  maintained. 

The  son  of  Captain  and  Mrs.  Parker,  Lednum  says,  was 
for  some  time  a  teacher  at  Woodhouse  Grove  Wesleyan 
School,  in  England.  He  came,  however,  "to  Philadelphia 
where  he  died,  leaving  a  widow  and  a  daughter  "  there. 

The  value  of  this  gifted  and  holy  woman  to  the  infant 
Methodism  of  the  then  metropolitan  city  of  America 
must  have  been  incalculable.  Her  mental  endowments  and 
culture  ;  her  total  consecration  to  the  Lord  of  the  harvest ; 
her  incessant  activity  and  leadership  in  the  white  field  where 


MARY   thorn's   NAME   RESCUED   FROM   OBLIVION      221 

her  sickle  was  ever  glittering  among  the  reapers;  her  in- 
trepidity of  spirit,  which  no  difficulty  nor  danger  could  balk 
or  appal ;  her  unselfish  work  as  a  deaconess  of  Mercy  and 
of  Christ  among  the  sick,  wounded,  and  dying  in  a  military 
hospital;  her  faith  which  "the  gates  of  hell"  could  not 
shake,  and  her  love  for  the  Christ,  which  surpassed  her  love 
for  father  and  mother,  brother  and  sister— a  love  which  many 
waters  could  not  quench,  rendered  her  a  boon  above  price  to 
the  new  revival  of  Wesley  in  the  New  World.  Her  memory 
had  almost  perished  amid  the  vicissitudes  of  receding  time. 
Lednum  excepted,  her  name  has  not  hitherto  appeared  in  any 
of  the  histories  of  Methodism  m  America,  whether  by  Lee, 
Bangs,  Stevens,  or  McTyeire  ; "  but  her  record  is  on  high. 
Her  rescued  memory  will  be  immortal,  and  her  spotless  and 
imperishable  fame  will  be  especially  cherished  by  the  women 
of  Methodism  who  will  derive  inspiration  from  the  story  of 
her  martyr-like  sufferings  and  triumph ;  and  luminous  guid- 
ance in  a  stormy  pilgrimage  from  her  rare  example  of  faith, 
fortitude,  and  zeal,  and  of  self-devoting  service. 

Mary  Thorn  literally  surrendered  her  all  at  the  despised 
but  heaven-honored  Wesleyan  altar  when  but  few  tributes 
were  laid  upon  it  in  the  firm  belief  that  thereby  she  pleased 
and  honored  Him  who  by  sacrifice  redeemed  the  world.  His 
word  to  her  was  fulfilled ;  "  every  one  that  hath  left  houses  or 
brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  children,  or  lauds 
for  my  name's  sake,  shall  receive  a  hundred  fold  and  shall 
inherit  everlasting  life."  The  sacrifices  that  wrenched  her 
heart  and  the  work  she  so  freely  and  fearlessly  wrought  for 
Him  have  at  last  under  His  sure  hand  given  her  long  buried 
name  resurrection  from  the  tomb,  and  poised  it  undimmed 
amidst  the  briUiant  constellation  of  the  heroines  of  the  Cross, 
where  it  will  shine  a  glorious  and  a  guiding  luminary  in  the 
sky  of  His  Kingdom  forever. 

*  There  is  an  appreciative  notice  of  Mrs.  Thorn  of  ten  lines  in  Bishop  Simpson's 
Cyclopedia  of  Methodism. 


Embury's  education,  conversion,  marriage    223 


CHAPTEE  Vin. 

PHILIP  EMBURY— HIS  REMOVAL  FROM  NEW   YORK  CITY. 

Sometime  in  the  year  1770,  probably  in  the  Spring,  Mr. 
Embury  left  the  City  of  New  York  where  he  had  carved  an 
ineffaceable  record  as  the  founder  of  Methodism  in  the  New 
World.  All  that  is  known  respecting  him  and  his  labors 
there,  warrants  the  belief  that  he  was  a  man  who  because 
of  his  intellectual.  Christian  and  ministerial  quahties  was 
worthy  to  bear  this  great  distinction  and  honor. 

The  movement  which  he  was  instrumental  in  inaugurat- 
ing in  New  York  is  well  described  by  Charles  Wesley  : 

*'  When  he  first  the  work  began 
Small  and  feeble  was  its  day." 

It  IS  fitly  illustrated  by  the  mustard-seed  of  the  Saviour's  para- 
ble. Embury's  planting  has  grown  into  proportions  greatly 
beyon  1  whrit  it  originally  promised.  The  audience  of  ^we  in 
his  domicile  in  1766  has  swelled  to  millions.  According  to 
the  elaborate  statistics  of  the  Churches  of  the  United  States, 
published  in  the  New  York  Independent  January  3,  1895, 
there  were  in  1894  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  unitedly,  3,683,936 
communicants.  In  all  the  branches  of  the  Wesleyan  tree 
Embuij  planted,  there  were,  according  to  the  same  author- 
ity, no  less  than  4,941,529  communicants  in  the  United 
States  in  1894,  having  53,457  churches. 

A  private  book  in  which  Embury  inserted  memoranda  and 
which  was  long  preserved,  and  probably  is  yet  extant,  con- 
tains the  date  of  his  baptism  but  not  of  his  birth.  He  was 
baptized  September  7,  1728.  It  is  believed  that  he  was  born 
but  a  brief  time  prior  to   that  date.     His  birth-place  was 


Ballingran,  Ireland.  To  that  country  his  ancestors  fled  from 
the  Palatinate  "  one  of  the  seven  original  electorates  of  Ger- 
many "  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Philip 
was  sent  to  school  to  Philip  Geir,  of  whom  Mr.  Wesley  in 
May,  1778  said :  *'  Two  months  ago  good  Philip  Geir  feU 
asleep,  one  of  the  Palatinates  that  came  over  and  settled  in 
Ireland  between  fifty  and  sixty  years  ago.  He  was  a  father 
to  this  and  the  other  German  societies,  loving  and  cherishing 
them  as  his  own  children.  He  after  two  days'  illness  went  to 
God."  Geir's  was  a  German  school,  and  after  a  period  spent 
as  a  pupil  in  it,  Embury  attended  an  English  school.  Thus 
he  obtained  such  an  education  as  prepared  him  to  acquire 
further  knowledge  and  so  to  do  the  great  work  which  he  so 
well  and  so  successfully  accomplished. 

After  leaving  school  it  is  said  that  he  served  his  appren- 
ticeship with  a  carpenter.  Embury  with  his  own  hand  in- 
scribed the  account  of  his  conversion  very  briefly  in  the  small 
book  containing  his  family  records  thus: 

"  On  Christmas  day,  being  Monday,  y^  25th  of  December 
in  the  year  1752,  the  Lord  shone  into  my  soul  by  a  glimpse 
of  his  redeeming  love  ;  being  an  earnest  of  my  redemption  in 
Christ  Jesus,  to  whom  be  glory  forever  and  ever.  Amen." 

He  was  married  in  the  Kathkeale  Church,  Tuesday,  Octo- 
ber 31,  1758  to  Margaret  Sweitzer,  of  Court  Matrix.  In  the 
summer  of  1760  as  we  have  seen,  they  with  a  company  of 
German-Irish  people  sailed  from  Limerick  to  New  York. 
Prior  to  his  emigration  he  not  only  labored  as  a  house  builder, 
but  also  as  a  Wesleyan  evangelist.  Crook  in  his  work  on 
"  Ireland  and  the  Centenary  of  American  Methodism  "  cites 
from  the  Minutes  of  the  English  Conference  of  August,  1758, 
a  record  to  the  effect  that  Philip  Embury  and  thirteen  others 
were  proposed  for  travelling  preachers.  Some  of  these.  Crook 
asserts,  "  were  then  appointed  to  a  circuit,  and  the  remainder, 
doubtless  including  Embury,  were  placed  on  Wesley's  list  of 
reserves,  many  of  whom  subsequently  went  out  to  travel." 
Embury  apparently  never  entered  the  travelling  ministry  but 
labored  as  a  local  preacher,  while  supporting  himself  by  his 
own  hands. 


i 


224 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


Coming  to  this  country  as  one  of  a  company  formed  in 
Ireland  with  the  design  of  establishing  a  linen  and  hemp  weav- 
ing industry,  he  and  his  fellow  emigrants  tarried  in  New^  York 
while  awaiting  an  opportunity  to  obtain  a  location  for  their 
enterprise.  It  has  been  commonly  believed  that  Embury 
pursued  the  calling  of  a  carpenter  dui'ing  this  period  of  de- 
lay and  no  intimation  has  been  given  hitherto  in  any  pub- 
lished Methodist  document  that  he  engaged  in  any  other  sec- 
ular employment.  The  truth  is,  however,  that  soon  after  his 
arrival  here,  he  became  a  pedagogue.  His  character,  native 
intelligence  and  acquired  knowledge  evidently  fitted  him  for 
the  work  of  a  teacher. 

So  far  as  is  known  the  earliest  printed  document  extant 
concerning  Embury  after  he  arrived  in  America  is  his  advertis- 
ment  as  a  schoolmaster  which  was  inserted  in  Weyman's 
New  York  Gazette,  Monday,  March  16,  1761,  and  was  contin- 
ued in  the  same  weekly  Journal  in  its  issues  of  March  23,  and 
April  ^Oth  and  27th  of  the  same  year,  making  four  insertions. 
This  advertisement  was  couched  in  the  following  form  of 
words : 

PHIL.  EMBURY,  School  Master, 

Gives  Notice  that  on  the  first  Dav  of  Mav  next  he  intends  to  teach 
Reading,  Writing  and  Arithmetic  in  English  in  the  New  School 
House  now  building  in  Little  Queen  street  next  Door  to  the  Lutheran 
Minister's.  And  as  he  has  been  informed  that  several  Gentlemen  were 
willing  to  favor  him  with  their  Children  he  gives  further  Notice  that 
if  a  sufficient  Number  of  scholars  should  attend  his  school,  he  would 
teach  in  company  with  Mr.  John  Embury  (who  teaches  several  Branches 
belonging  to  Trade  and  Business)  that  Children  might  be  carefully  at- 
tended, as  he  faithfully  desires  the  good  of  the  Public.  He  now  teaches 
at  Mr.  Samuel  Foster* s  in  Carman^s  street. 


Embury's  desire  to  be  useful  is  expressed  in  this  school 
announcement.  It  was  his  purpose  that  the  children  who 
might  be  intrusted  to  him  as  pupils  should  receive  careful 
attention,  "  as  he  faithfully  desired  the  good  of  the  public." 
The  extent  to  which  he  was  destined  to  promote  *'  the  good 
of"  the  American  "public"  by  setting  in  operation  the  mighty 
reforming  energies  of  Methodism  was  then  to  him  unknown. 


AMERICAN   METHODISM   FOUNDED   BY   A   TEACHER      225 


It  would  appear  from  the  mechanical  labor  which  he  put  upon 
the  John  Street  Chapel  that  he  afterward  resumed  his  early 
trade.  Little  Queen  street,  where  he  taught,  is  now  CediU* 
street,  three  squares  south  of  John  street. 

The  date  of  the  publication  of  this  advertisement  demon- 
strates that  Embury  taught  in  New  York  as  early  as  five 
years  prior  to  the  time  when  Methodism,  through  his  agency, 
originated  there.  It  is,  at  the  least,  an  interesting  fact  that 
American  Methodism,  which  has  done  so  great  a  work  in 
educating  the  youth  of  the  country,  w^as  founded  by  a 
man  who  was,  or,  at  least,  had  been,  an  educator. 

Mr.  Embury's  labors  as  a  Wesleyan  evangelist  in  New^ 
York  in  1766  and  later  have  been  narrated  with  sufficient  de- 
tail in  former  pages.  We  have  seen  that  he  also  founded 
Methodism  at  Ashgrove  after  his  removal  with  the  Hecks 
and  others  of  his  German-Irish  neighbors  to  Camden  Yalley, 
New  York.  About  the  time  of  his  departure  from  the  city, 
the  Old  John  Street  record  book  show  s  the  following  entry  : 
"  April  10,  [1770]  To  Cash  paid  Philip  Embury,  to  buy  a 
Concordance  £2  5s."  This,  it  is  supposed,  was  a  parting 
gift  of  his  friends  of  the  society  to  whom  he  had  borne  the 
relation  of  preacher  and  pastor. 

John  Embury,  whose  name  appears  in  the  advertisement 
above,  was  Philip's  brother.  There  were  at  least  four  Em- 
bury brothers,  who  sailed  from  Ireland  to  New  York  in 
1760.  The  wife  of  the  eloquent  Samuel  Coate  was  their 
niece,  her  mother,  Mrs.  Dulmage,  being,  as  w^e  have  seen, 
Embury's  sister.  Death  entered  the  Embury  family  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  Philip  lost  two  children,  and  also  two 
brothers.  In  the  book  of  private  and  family  memoranda 
which  was  kept  by  him,  and  preserved  by  his  descendants 
who  probably  yet  retain  it,  he  recorded  the  death  of  two 
of  his  brothers  as  follows  : 

"  Bro.  John  Embury  died  on  the  7th  day  of  April  1764 
between  10  &  11  O'clock  in  the  morn,  Saturday." 

"  My  brother,  Peter  Embury  died  the  24th  of  September 
1765  about  three  O'clock  in  the  morning." 

It  thus  appears  that  Embury  was  in  the  grief  of  recent 
15 


226 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN    AMERICA 


bereavement,  when,  early  in  1766,  he  began  his  famons  evan- 
gelical  career  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  Methodism  in  America. 

The  other  brother,  David,  seems  to  have  been  a  Methodist, 
and  removed  with  him  to  Camden  Yalley,  N.  Y.,  and  soon 
after  retiu-ned  to  the  city  on  business  relating  to  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  society.  In  the  "  Old 
Book  "  of  John  Street,  the  following  document  yet  exists, 
with  David's  bold,  round  signature  attached  to  it. 

Rec^  New  York,  13th  Aug'  1770  of  Mr.  William  Lnpton  five  pounds 
in  full,  being  allowed  me  for  loss  of  time  and  travelling  expenses  in 
Coming  from  Camden  in  the  County  of  Albany  to  N.  York  in  order  to 
Execute  an  Instrument  relative  to  the  Methodist  Preaching  house. 

David  !Embitry. 

David's  visit  to  the  city  at  this  time  probably  had  some 
relation  to  the  new  deed  of  the  John  Street  property,  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  w\as  executed  November  2,  1770,  as  a  result 
of  the  counsels  given  to  the  trustees  by  Pilmoor  and  Board- 
man  in  the  preceding  spring.  The  above  receipt  affords  fur- 
ther evidence  that  Philip  Embury  removed  from  New  York 
to  Camden  in  the  spring  of  1770. 

Philip  Embury's  son  Samuel  lived  to  an  advanced  age  and 
died  in  Canada  in  1853.  The  Kev.  Isaac  Stone,  wlio  visited 
him  in  August,  1844,  says :  '*  The  old  gentleman  is  little  of 
stature,  and  his  hair  white  as  wool.  He  informed  me  he  was 
then  seventy-eight  years  of  age  and  had  been  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  society  about  fifty  years.  His  father  died,  he 
said,  when  he  was  about  eight  years  of  age.  A  book  lay  on 
the  table,  to  which  the  old  man  pointed  and  said  it  was  once 
the  property  of  his  father.  I  took  it  up  and  found  it  to  be 
a  copy  of  Cruden's  Concordance  in  qiiarto  form.  I  looked 
on  the  blank  page  in  front  of  the  book,  and  there  I  saw  in 
round,  legible  characters  the  name— Philip  Embury— and  the 
old  man  assured  me  it  was  the  handwriting  of  his  father."  * 
That  book  "  is  now  in  the  library  of  the'Wesleyan  Theologi- 

*  Mr  Stone  published  this  passage  in  an  article  in  the  Northern  Christian 
Advocate,  and  it  was  copied  in  the  New  York  Christian  Advocate,  May  14,  1848. 


EMBURY'S   CONCORDANCE   AND    REMOVAL 


227 


cal  College  in  Montreal.  It  is  the  third  edition  of  Cruden, 
with  portrait  of  the  author,  date  1769— a  stout,  leather-bound 
quarto,  with  a  leather  cover  over  the  original  binding.  It 
bears  the  inscription  in  a  clear,  bold  hand  :  '  Phil.  Embury, 
April,  1770.'  The  book  was  presented  to  the  college  by  Mrs. 
J.  Ehicard,  a  great  grand-daughter  of  Philip  Embury."  ^ 

The  primary  purpose  of  Embury's  removal  to  Camden 
Yalley  was  his  interest  in  a  large  tract  of  land,  which  as  we 
have  already  seen  had  been  granted  to  him  and  others  by  the 
government  of  the  New  York  province.     The  researches  of 
the  Eev.  George  G.  Saxe,  now  of  Madison,  New  Jersey,  who 
had  access  to  "  Embury's  family  record  and  other  memoranda, 
mostly  in  his  own  handwriting,"  besides  interviews  with  aged 
persons  and  correspondence  with   members  of  the  family, 
have  revealed  some  interesting  data.     Saxe  says  that  some  of 
Embury ^s  old  friends  had  preceded  him  to  Salem,  in  Camden 
Yalley,  among  whom  was   Peter   Sweitzer,  Mrs.  Embury's 
brother.     Philip's   "  family  consisted  of  his  wife  and  three 
children.     The  dust  of  their  first  two  children  they  left  sleep- 
ing in  their  soon  to  be  forgotten  graves.    The  youngest  child, 
Philip,  was  born  in  Salem,  April  13, 1772."  f    While  residing 
at  Salem,  Embury,  says  Saxe,  "  labored  on  the  farm  and  at 
his  trade,  and  was  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  a 
man,  a  Christian,  and  a  minister.     He  preached  and  formed 
classes  in  his  own  and  surrounding  neighborhoods,  and  had 
the  honor  of  establishing  the  first  Methodist  society  north 
of  New  York.     This  was  at  Asgrove,  where  resided  Thomas 
Ashton,  X  of  blessed  memory,  and  the  Irish  Methodists.     Mr. 
Embury  held  the  position  of  civil  magistrate,  and  was  much 
respected  by  his  neighbors,  while  his  benevolent  and  sympa- 
thetic nature  secured  him  many  ardent  friends.     His  piety 
was  earnest  and  yet  cheerful.     It  is  said  he  was  often  heard 
singing  hymns  w^iile  plying  the  implements  of  his  trade." 
We  shall  again  recur  to  Embury  when  we  arrive  at  the  period 
of  his  death. 

*The  Rev.  Dr.  Withrow,  in  the  New  York  Christian  Advocate,  June  11,  1886. 
t  Philip  Embury,  by  the  Rev.  George  G.  Saxe.  Ladies'  Repository,  May,  1859. 
X  This  man  brought  Robert  Williams  to  America. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

PILMOOR's   second   period   of   labor   in   PHILADELPHIA. 

Mr.  Pilmoor  began  the  second  term  of  his  ministry  in 
Philadelphia  July  27,  1770.  The  day  following  he  was  chiefly 
occupied  in  visiting  his  friends,  "  and  w\as  abundantly  com- 
forted among  them."  He  was  gratified  to  be  in  the  Quaker 
City  again,  which,  he  says,  "  Of  all  places  upon  earth  is  most 
worthy  of  its  name,  which  is  Brotherly  Love,  The  inhabi- 
itants  are  in  general  a  civil,  kind,  generous,  and  honorable 
people."  His  labors  were  efficient  both  in  the  pulpit  and  in 
the  homes  of  his  flock.  He  restored  peace  in  a  discordant 
family,  and  perfect  union  followed  the  reconciliation.  Some 
incidents  of  historic  significance  distinguished  this  his  sec- 
ond term  in  Philadelphia.  He  diligently  proclaimed  the  gos- 
pel m  the  adjacent  country  as  well  as  in  the  city.  After  a 
refreshing  season  at  the  early  Sunday  morning  service  in  the 
city  August  12th,  he  preached  at  ten  o'clock  at  Gloucester 
Court  House,  New  Jersey,  where  "  the  people  seemed  just 
ripe  for  the  gospel  and  received  the  word  with  joy."  The 
same  evening  he  was  in  his  pulpit  in  Philadelphia,  and  dis- 
coursed "  with  great  freedom "  to  a  large  congregation  con- 
cerning the  impotent  man  at  the  pool.  After  a  five  o'clock 
service  in  the  city  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  August,  he  went 
in  a  chaise  with  Mr.  Harris  to  Pennypack,  near  Bustleton, 
where  he  ministered  to  a  large  audience.  He  then  visited 
"  some  of  the  people  from  house  to  house,"  after  which  he 
went  with  "  a  few  friends  to  spend  the  afternoon  with  Mr. 
Salter,  a  Baptist,  but  perfectly  free  from  bigotry,"  whose 
house  stood  upon  the  Delaware  Kiver,  commanding  "  a  most 
delightful  prospect  of  the  Jerseys  and  a  fine  view  of  the  har- 


pilmoor  preaches  frequently  in  the  country    229 

bor  of  Philadelphia."  The  next  day  Edward  Evans  preached 
in  the  morning  in  St.  George's,  on  "  Eeceiving  grace  from 
the  Divine  Fountain  opened  to  the  house  of  David." 

In  an  early  morning  hour  of  September  1,  1770,  Pilmoor 
set  off  with  a  Mr.  Beach  in  a  chaise  for  Methacton,  in  Wor- 
cester township,  Montgomery  County,  Pennsylvania,  about 
twenty  miles  north  of  Philadelphia.  Pilmoor,  in  his  Journal, 
spells  the  name  of  this  place  "  Matching  "  and  "  Matchin,"  in 
conformity,  no  doubt,  with  the  provincial  pronunciation.  The 
journey  there  on  this  occasion  was  difficult  because  of  damage 
done  to  the  roads  by  copious  rains.  He  found  a  "  simple- 
hearted  and  attentive  "  congregation  "  gathered  from  several 
miles  round."  He  hastened  to  White  Marsh  Church  the  fol- 
lowing day  and  preached  to  a  multitude  of  various  denomina- 
tions. Here  he  received  such  hospitality  from  a  Mr.  Deweze, 
''  a  pious  Episcopalian,  as  would  have  been  greatly  esteemed 
by  the  Patriarchs  of  old."  He  returned  to  Philadelphia  in 
time  to  preach  in  the  evening.  Though  very  weary,  he  per- 
formed his  work  with  much  spiritual  satisfaction  and  took  "a 
collection  for  the  expenses  of  the  church  and  got  ten  pounds 
nine  shillings.  Thus,"  he  exclaims,  '*  the  Lord  provides  for 
us  and  gives  us  all  that  we  want."  He  held  a  love-feast  in  the 
city  September  5th,  which  was  rather  dull  in  the  beginning, 
but  afterward  "  the  people  spoke  freely,  and  even  the  poor 
negroes  came  forth  and  bore  a  noble  testimony  for  God." 

He  preached  at  Gloucester  Court  House,  New  Jersey, 
again  on  Sunday,  September  the  9th,  while  Captain  Webb 
preached  in  Philadelphia.  Pilmoor  addressed  "  about  3,000 
souls  on  the  Common  near  the  city  "  at  five  in  the  evening. 
Webb  preached  also  at  seven  in  the  Church.  Pilmoor  ex- 
pected to  preach  at  Burlington  on  the  ensuing  Tuesday,  but 
was  prevented  by  temporary  illness.  The  next  Sunday  he 
was  at  White  Marsh,  where  not  half  of  the  assemblage  could 
find  room  in  the  Church.  With  a  table  for  his  pulpit,  he 
stood  "  under  the  shady  trees  which  spread  their  luxuriant 
branches  "  above  the  verdant  turf,  ''  forming  a  most  beautiful 
canopy,"  and  preached  from  "  The  end  of  all  things  is  at 
hand,"  etc.     After  dining  with  Mr.  Deweze,  he  returned  to 


230 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


Philadelphia  and  to  a  crowded  audience  preached  on  the  New 
Bii-th. 

The  week  in  Philadelphia  was  filled  with  pastoral  activ- 
ity. Pilmoor  exulted  in  seeing  signs  of  harvest.  He  was 
constantly  employed  in  visiting,  giving  advice  to  the  inquirers 
who  came  to  see  him,  "  and  preaching  every  day.  The  work," 
he  writes,  "  now  begins  to  revive  ;  there  is  a  great  cry  among 
the  people,  and  many  of  the  genteeler  sort  begin  to  hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness." 

He  went  with  Mr.  Beach  to  Pennypack,  near  Bustleton, 
where  he  expounded  the  Divine  Word  on  the  second  of  Octo- 
ber, 1770.  He  intended  to  go  to  Burlington  also,  but  says, 
"  The  weather  was  so  stormy  my  friends  advised  me  not  to 
attempt  to  cross  the  river,  so  we  returned  to  Philadelphia." 

With  Edward  Evans  he  set  off  for  Matching  (Methacton), 
to  open  a  new  chapel,  which,  says  Pilmoor,  "  was  built  by  a 
few  persons  who  love  the  Kedeemer."  Among  these  was  Mr. 
Supplee,  who  became  a  friend  of  Pilmoor  and  whose  house 
was  his  retreat  at  a  time  when,  during  convalescence  from  a 
serious  sickness,  he  sought  retirement  in  the  country.  This 
chapel  at  Methacton  was  the  second  Methodist  Church  in 
Pennsvlvania.  On  the  occasion  of  its  dedication,  October  13, 
1770,  Pilmoor  preached  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  on 
2  Kings  viii.  17.  "  Mr.  Evans,"  he  says,  "  gave  an  excellent 
exhortation,  and  I  concluded  with  solemn  prayer.  In  the 
evening  we  had  a  love-feast,  and  the  simple-hearted  lovers  of 
Jesus  spoke  with  much  spirit  and  life." 

Ill  his  "  Eise  of  Methodism  in  America,"  Lednum  men- 
tions this  chapel,  and  says :  "  About  the  time  the  Methodists 
bought  St.  George's,  a  small  stone  building  was  erected  in 
Montgomery  County,  about  twenty  miles  north  of  Philadel- 
phia, which  has  since  been  known  by  the  name  of  Bethel. 
Mr.  Supplee  was  the  chief  person  concerned  in  building  it. 
At  this  time  he  knew  but  little,  if  anything,  of  the  Methodists, 
but  believed  that  the  Lord  would  raise  up  a  people  in  his 
neighborhood  to  serve  him.  It  was  not  long  before  the 
Methodist  preachers  found  out  the  place,  being  invited  by 
the  founder  of  the  house."     It  is  a  notable  fact  that  this  first 


DEDICATION    OF   SECOND   CHAPEL   IN   PENNSYLVANIA    231 

chapel  of  Methodism  in  Pennsylvania,  outside  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  possibly  the  third  in  the  coimtry,  was  opened  for 
worship  by  one  of  the  first  two  missionaries  sent  hither  by 
Mr.  Wesley,  and  that  the  first  Methodist  preacher  that  came 
forth  in  America  assisted  him  in  the  service.  Lednum  says 
that  in  it  "  a  society  was  raised  up  which  still  continues,  and, 
although  it  has  never  been  large,  it  always  contained  a  num- 
ber of  substantial  members." 

The  Sunday  after  the  dedication  of  the  chapel  at  Methac- 
ton, Pilmoor  preached  at  White  Marsh,  to  an  assembly  so 
large  that  the  Church  would  not  contain  a  quarter  thereof. 
He  delivered  his  discourse  standing  upon  a  table  in  the 
churchyard,  and  then  hastened  to  Philadelphia,  where  he 
spoke  to  a  multitude  on  "  Stand  in  the  ways  and  see  and 
inquire  after  the  old  paths  and  walk  therein." 

After  preaching  in  the  city  in  the  early  morning  hour  of 
Sunday,  October  21, 1770,  Pilmoor,  at  eleven  o'clock,  preached 
at  Gloucester,  New  Jersey.  Thus,  while  the  work  in  the  city 
was  enough  to  engross  all  his  time  and  powers,  we  find  him 
toiling  for  Christ  in  various  rm'al  places  on  secular  days,  and 
also  sometimes  on  Sundays.  It  has  been  alleged  by  Bangs 
and  Stevens,  and  even  by  Lee,  that  Boardman  and  Pilmoor 
confined  their  ministry  almost  entirely  to  the  cities.  Until 
Francis  Asbury  came  over,  the  rural  communities  heard  them 
but  little,  according  to  these  authorities.  The  present  point 
of  our  narrative  is  more  than  a  year  anterior  to  Asbury 's  ar- 
rival, yet  we  have  repeatedly  seen  Pilmoor  almost  from  the 
time  he  reached  this  continent  going  forth  to  preach  the 
gospel  in  the  country,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
Boardman  did  likewise.  We  know  that  for  over  two  years 
before  Asbury  appeared  on  the  field  Kobert  Williams  literally 
went  to  and  fro  about  the  laud  from  Norfolk  to  New  York, 
and  thence  to  Maryland,  back  and  forth.  Notwithstanding 
this,  Ledmun  says  that  Williams  "  hugged  New  York  closely 
for  about  two  years  and  a  half."  Webb,  too,  was  an  ardent 
and  extensive  itinerant  for  about  five  years  previously  to 
the  arrival  of  Asbury  ;  and  Strawbridge  travelled  abroad  in 
Maryland,  and  his  evangelical  journeyings  brought  him  to 


232 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


Pilmoor's  assistance  in  Philadelphia,  as  we  have  seen,  nearly 
two  years  in  advance  of  the  appearance  of  Asbury  in  that 
metropolis.  Jesse  Lee  says  :  "  Mr.  Strawbridge  was  a  use- 
ful man  and  zealous  in  the  cause  of  God,  and  spent  much  of 
his  time  in  preaching  the  gospel  in  different  places  before 
any  regular  preachers  were  sent  over  by  Mr.  Wesley  to  this 
country."  There  was  a  decided  itinerancy  here  prior  to  As- 
bury's  coming.  We  shall  now  see  a  new  itinerating  laborer 
advancing  from  Philadelphia  to  give  propulsion  to  the  move- 
ment in  rural  fields  more  than  a  year  before  Asbuiy  came. 

John  King,  like  Eobert  Williams,  appeared  in  America  at 
a  time  when  the  need  of  Wesleyan  preachers  was  urgent,  and 
he  did  such  laborious  and  valuable  service  as  has  given  un- 
dying celebrity  to  his  name. 

King  arrived  here  in  the  summer  of  1770.  He  waited  on 
Mr.  Pilmoor  in  Philadelphia,  and  desired  to  be  accepted  as  a 
preacher.  Pilmoor  refers  to  this  interesting  event  in  his  jour- 
nal, August  18, 1770  :  "  I  met  with  a  particular  trial.  A  young 
man  waited  on  me  who  said  he  was  just  from  Europe  and  had 
been  a  preacher  among  the  Methodists,  but  upon  examina- 
tion I  found  he  had  no  letter  from  Mr.  Wesley  nor  any  of  the 
senior  preachers  in  England  or  Ireland.  Hence  I  could  not 
receive  him  as  a  minister  in  connection  with  us,  nor  suffer 
him  to  preach  among  our  societies  in  America.  However,  as 
he  appeared  to  be  a  good  yoimg  man  I  resolved  to  deal  ten- 
derly with  him  and  treat  him  with  all  the  kindness  in  my 
power  as  a  stranger  in  a  distant  land  and  told  him  I  would  do 
everything  in  my  power  for  him,  only  I  could  not  employ  him 
as  a  preacher.  As  this  did  not  satisfy  him  he  departed  from 
me  and  was  determined  to  preach  whether  I  approved  of  it  or 
not.  So  I  left  him  for  the  present  to  pursue  his  own  busi- 
ness, and  was  fnllv  determined  to  be  on  my  guard  against  all 
impostors,  lest  the  gospel  should  suffer  by  means  of  false 

teachers." 

Pilmoor  did  right.  As  the  representative  of  Mr.  Wesley 
who  had  committed  to  him  a  sacred  and  a  weighty  trust  he 
could  not  accord  ministerial  recognition  to  an  unknown  man 
without  credentials.     His  bearing  towards  King  illustrated 


JOHN   KING   PKEACHING   IN   POTTER' S   FIELD 


2'SS 


the  wisdom  and  the  gentleness  with  which  he  administered 
his  charge.  King  also  did  right.  He  longed  to  utter  his 
message  to  the  Americans,  and  no  doubt  thought  he  could 
not  afford  to  lose  time  in  waiting  for  the  recognition  which 
he  knew  he  would  receive.  Therefore  he  went  forth  from  Mr. 
Pilmoor's  presence  resolved  immediately  to  enter  the  Ameri- 
can evangelical  field  which  was  white  for  the  harvest.  We 
shall  now  see  the  sequel. 

A  historic  day  in  the  Methodism  of  America  w^as  the  last 
Sunday  of  August,  1770,  for  then  occurred  an  event  which 
had  an  important  relation  to  its  progress.  On  that  day  in  a 
graveyard  of  the  poor  in  PhiladeljDhia  was  inaugurated  the 
American  ministerial  career  of  one  of  the  most  notable  and 
successful  Methodist  preachers  of  the  ante-revolutionary 
period.  Pilmoor's  reference  to  the  event,  August  26,  1770, 
is  couched  in  the  following  words :  "  Our  congregation  was 
large  in  the  morning  and  the  power  of  God  was  with  us  of  a 
truth  while  I  enlarged  on  the  words,  '  Rejoicing  in  hope, 
patient  in  tribulation,  continuing  instant  in  prayer.'  In  the 
evening  at  six  I  wondered  to  find  so  few  people  in  the  Church, 
but  I  soon  found  out  the  cause  of  it.  Mr.  John  King,  the 
young  man  who  was  with  me  a  few  days  ago  wanting  to  be 
employed  as  a  preacher,  had  published  himself  and  was 
])reaching  in  the  Potters  Field  to  a  great  multitude  of  people. 
When  he  had  done  they  hastened  away  to  the  Church  which 
was  soon  crowded,  and  God  enabled  me  to  speak  with  much 
I)ower.  The  word  was  made  more  awful  by  a  most  dreadful 
thunder  gust  which  came  on  while  I  was  preaching,  and  con- 
tinued all  the  time.  The  Great  Jehovah  uttered  his  voice, 
his  lightnings  Avent  forth  in  sheets  of  flame  and  all  the 
heavens  seemed  to  be  on  fire." 

A  young  Methodist  evangelist  who  notwithstanding  his 
failure  to  obtain  recognition  as  a  preacher  had  the  courage 
and  skill  to  gather  and  hold  a  crowd  of  hearers  in  a  pauper 
graveyard,  could  not  fail  to  become  recognized  as  a  fellow 
laborer  of  the  Weslevan  missionaries  "  in  the  Kingdom  and 
patience  of  Jesus ; "  nor  to  prove  of  real  value  to  the  new 
movemen4:  which  required  heroic  leaders. 


234 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


In  only  five  days  after  his  sermon  in  Potter's  Field,  John 
King  stood  in  St.  George's  pulpit.  With  reference  to  that 
occasion  Pilmoor  says  :  "  The  Intercession  on  Friday  [August 
31,  1770]  was  a  time  of  love  and  refreshing  from  the  presence 
of  God.  In  the  evening  Mr.  John  King  preached  his  proba- 
tionary sermon.  Having  conversed  much  with  him  since  his 
arrival  in  the  city,  and  found  him  to  be  a  zealous,  good  man, 
I  thought  it  would  be  well  to  try  him.  So  I  appointed  him 
to  preach  before  me  and  the  leaders  in  the  Church,  and  al- 
though he  is  by  no  means  fit  for  the  city,  he  is  well  qualified 
to  do  good  in  the  country.  As  he  earnestly  requested  it,  I 
gave  him  a  license  to  preach  and  recommended  him  to  several 
gentlemen  in  the  country  in  hope  of  advancing  the  Kingdom 

of  God." 

King  was  soon  fully  vindicated,  not  only  by  his  fidelity 
and  usefulness,  but  also  by  the  Minutes  of  the  British  Con- 
ference which  in  this  same  year  (1770)  in  the  list  of  assign- 
ments of  the  preachers  contained  the  following  appointments  : 
''  America,  Joseph  Pilmoor,  Eichard  Boardman,  Eobert  Will- 
iams, John  Kinc?."  This  seems  to  show  that  while  King  was 
without  written  credentials,  Mr.  Wesley  approved  of  his  com- 
ing to  America  and  authorized  him  to  labor  here.  The  Con- 
ference at  which  the  above  appointments  were  published  w^as 
held  in  London  the  same  month  that  King  presented  himself 
to  Pilmoor  in  Philadelphia. 

Dr.  Stevens'  error  in  his  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,"  respecting  the  time  of  King's  first  appearance 
in  America  is  thus  corrected  by  Pilmoor.  Stevens  says  King 
arrived  here  ''some  weeks"  after  Boardman  and  Pilmoor,  "in 
the  latter  part  of  1769."  It  is  evident  now  that  he  did  not 
arrive  until  nine  months  or  over  after  the  arrival  of  the  first 
two  missionaries— that  is  to  say  late  in  the  summer  of  1770. 

King's  ministry  was  effective  and  fruitful.  The  rural  field 
to  which  Pilmoor  sent  him  from  Philadelphia  w^as  in  Dela- 
ware. Jesse  Lee  asserts  that  the  point  to  which  King  went 
with  his  license  from  Pilmoor  was  Wilmington,  to  "  exhort 
among  a  few  people  who  w^ere  earnestly  seeking  the  Lord." 
We  shall  see  that  King  was  immediately  useful  there,  and 


JOHN   king's   labors   AND   USEFULNESS 


235 


that  Pilmoor  met  him  in  or  near  Wilmington  in  the  spring 

of  1771. 

King  promoted  the  progress  of  the  Wesleyan  cause  when 
in  the  entire  country  there  were  but  seven  Methodist  preach- 
ers, itinerant  and  local,  himself  included.  He  early  labored 
in  Maryland  and  still  further  Southward  and  signally  aided 
the  work  in  those  sections.  Jesse  Lee  in  his  "  History  of  the 
Methodists"  says:  "In  the  beginning  of  1774,  John  King 
came  first  to  the  South  parts  of  Virginia  where  his  labors 
were  made  a  blessing  to  many  people.  He  w^as  a  sensible, 
zealous   preacher,   and   very   useful   w^hile  he   continued  to 

travel." 

In  the  Methodist  historical  works  but  scant  recitals  of  the 
events  in  King's  career  have  been  given.  In  a  comparatively 
recent  work  by  the  Eev.  M.  H.  Moore,  namely:  "The  Pio- 
neers of  Methodism  in  North  Carolina  and  Virginia,"  several 
new  dates  and  facts  concerning  King's  history  are  set  forth 
which  were  derived  from  family  records.  According  to  this 
authority,  John  King  was  born  in  Leicestershire,  England,  in 
the  year  1746.  He  heard  Wesley  preach  and  became  both 
a  Christian  and  a  Methodist.  He  was  disinherited  by  his 
father  because  of  his  Methodism.  Moore  also  says  that  King 
was  a  graduate  of  Oxford  University  and  of  a  London  Medi- 
cal College.  Pilmoor,  however,  seems  rather  to  discredit 
King's  alleged  Oxonian  training  by  his  statement  after  hear- 
ing his  trial  sermon  that  he  w^as  "by  no  means  fit  for  the 
city."  Still  Pilmoor  afterward  testified  that  King  "turned 
out  w^onderfully  well  and  became  an  able  minister  of  Jesus 
Christ."  In  less  than  seven  months  after  Pilmoor  licensed 
him  King  preached  in  Philadelphia  again,  and  then  Pilmoor 
said  of  him  :  "  How  wonderfully  improved  since  his  arrival  in 
America.  He  is  now  likely  to  be  an  able  minister  of  the 
gospel,  and  will  I  trust  be  a  blessing  to  mankind." 

It  has  been  asserted  that  King  was  the  first  Methodist 
that  preached  in  Baltimore.  This  is  a  doubtful  tradition. 
Kobert  Williams  went  to  Maryland  nearly  ten  months  before 
King  was  licensed  by  Pilmoor,  and  there  is  no  evidence  that 
King  reached  Maryland  before  April,   1771,  almost  a  year 


236 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


and  a  half  after  Williams  went  there.  WilHams  had  lifted 
up  his  voice  for  the  truth  in  Norfolk,  and  New  York,  and 
Philadelphia,  and  in  beginning  his  proclamation  of  the  gos- 
pel in  Maryland,  it  seems  probable  that  he  sought  its  chief 
city  as  a  promising  field  for  the  good  seed  he  was  sowing.  As 
we  have  seen,  Dr.  Dallam  says  Williams  was  the  first  Meth- 
odist preacher  who  entered  Harford  County,  which  was  then 
included  in  the  county  of  Baltimore  ;  and  he  asserts  that 
WiUiams  went  thither  from  the  city  of  Baltimore.  This 
probably  was  prior  to  King's  appearance  in  Maryland. 

There  is  a  well-attested  tradition,  that  King  once  preached 
ill  St.  Paul's  church  in  Baltimore.  "  One  who  was  present," 
says  the  Kev.  Dr.  WiUiam  Hamilton,  "  and  from  whom  we 
received  the  information  many  years  ago,  said  '  that  Mr. 
King  made  the  dust  fly  from  the  velvet  cushion.'"  The 
zealous  Wesleyan  herald  did  not,  however,  have  a  second 
privilege  of  proclaiming  his  message  from  that  pulpit. 

Moore  informs  us  that  King  married  Miss  Seawell,  of 
Brunswick  Countv,  Virginia,  in  the  Conference  year  of  1774. 
His  name  is  not  found  in  the  Minutes  after  1777.     He  hved 
in   North  Carolina,  practised  medicine,  and  labored  m  the 
gospel  in  a  local  capacity.     Bishop  Asbury  frequently  men- 
tions him  in  his  Journal,  "  and  there  is  abundant  evidence, 
says  Moore   "  that  he  continued  to  the  end  an  earnest,  fear- 
less, faithful  preacher  of  the  gospel."      We  learn  from  the 
same  authority  that  King  was  present  at  the  first  Methodist 
Conference  in  North  Carolina,  at  the  home  of  Green  Hill, 
April  20  1785.     There  is  a  family  tradition  that  as  King 
entered  the  conference  room.  Dr.  Coke,  without  a  word  of 
salutation,    asked   him    to   pray.      Laying   his    saddle-bags 
aside,  he  offered  the  first  prayer  ever  made  m  a  conference 
in  North  Carolina.-^  ^ 

Kin-  died  while  visiting  New  Berne,  m  1794,  and  his 
.rave  is  in  Wake  County,  North  Carolina.  Stevens  says 
his  death  occurred  a  few  years  before  1855.  Moore  thinks  it 
strange  that  such  an  error  should  have  occurred,  especially 

^tL  Pioneers  of  Methodism  in  North  Carolina  and  Virginia,  by  the  Rev.  M. 
H.  Moore,  1884. 


COMPLETION   OF   THE  TITLE  TO   ST.   GEORGE'S        237 

as  Bishop  Asbury  speaks  of  the  marriage  of  King's  widow  to 
a  Mr.  Perry.  Probably  the  error  resulted  from  confounding 
the  father  with  the  son,  as  their  names  were  identical.  Moore 
says  that  all  of  King's  children  became  members  of  the 
Church  of  their  father,  and  that  two  of  his  sons,  John 
and  William,  became  Methodist  preachers.  Bishop  McTyeire, 
in  his  "  History  of  Methodism,"  says,  "  the  descendants  of 
King  are  worthily  represented  in  the  Methodist  ministry  of 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee  to  this  day."  As  one  of  the  earliest 
and  valiant  leaders  and  heroes  of  the  American  Wesleyan 
movement  John  King  will  ever  be  illustrious. 

The  title  to  St.  George's  was  not  completed  until  nearly 
ten  months  after  the  Philadelphia  Methodists  occupied  it. 
The  church  was  sold  at  auction  pursuant  to  an  Act  of  the 
Provincial  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  in  1769,  and  on  June 
12,  1770,  it  was  deeded  to  William  Branson  Hockley.  Two 
days  later  Mr.  Hockley  legally  conveyed  it  to  Miles  Pen- 
nington, a  tallow-chandler  and  a  Methodist.*  Pennington 
evidently  received  it  in  trust  for  the  society.  He  transferred 
it  by  deed,  September  11,  1770,  to  Richard  Boardman,  Jo- 
seph Pilmoor,  Thomas  W^ebb,  Edward  Evans,  Daniel  Mont- 
gomery, John  Dowers,  Edmund  Beach,  Robert  Fitzgerald,  and 
James  Enierson,  for  the  sum  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 
The  process  by  which  the  property  was  secured  to  the  Meth- 
odists forever,  Pilmoor  thus  describes  :  "  I  sent  for  the  per- 
sons concerned  and  set  about  settling  the  church.  I  was 
rather  afraid  the  person  with  whom  we  had  intrusted  it  would 
give  us  much  trouble,  but  God  overruled  all  thinirs  for  our 
good,  and  he  quietly  signed  the  writings,  and  all  things  were 
amicably  settled.  So  the  Methodist  church  in  Philadelphia  is 
as  secure  for  our  preachers  as  the  chapels  in  London  or  York." 

The  interest  became  such  that  the  multitude  of  attend- 
ants at  St.  George's  swelled  beyond  the  limit  of  its  walls. 
On  Sunday  morning,  October  7,  1770,  Robert  Williams 
gave  them  a  sermon  and  in  the  afternoon  Pilmoor  preached 
at  the  end  of  the  Market-house.  "At  night,"  writes  Pil- 
moor, "  many  were  obliged  to  go  away  for  want  of  room  in 

*  See  Lednum's  History  of  Methodism,  p.  45. 


238 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


the  churcli.  God  gave  me  great  freedom  and  boldness  to 
declare  his  own  counsel  to  the  people,  and  his  word  went 
from  heart  to  heart.  This  has  been  a  precious  day  indeed. 
My  soul  has  walked  with  God  and  greatly  rejoiced  in  the 
light  of  his  countenance.  O,  to  grace,  how  great  a  debtor. 
Hallelujah !  "  The  next  day  many  spoke  with  the  preacher 
"  about  the  state  of  their  souls." 

The  greatest  Gospel-orator  of  the  eighteenth  century  had 
now  finished  his  herculean  and  apostolic  labors.  The  elo- 
quent tongue  of  the  seraphic  Whitefield  was  still.  Concern- 
ing this  mournful  event,  Pilmoor,  on  October  9th,  wrote  in 
his  Journal :  *'  I  received  the  melancholy  news  of  the  death 
of  the  Eev.  Mr.  George  AVhitefield.  Of  all  the  pious  and  use- 
ful ministers  that  ever  visited  America,  he  was  by  far  the 
most  useful.  There  are  many  thousands  of  souls  that  have 
been  deeply  affected  and  savingly  wrought  upon  under  his 
ministry,  and  will  undoubtedly  be  a  crown  of  rejoicing  to  him 
in  the  day  of  the  Lord.  How  mysterious,  are  the  ways  of 
Providence !  This  man  of  God  was  suddenly  snatched  away, 
while  carnal  ministers  and  the  enemies  of  religion  live  to  be 
full  of  (lays.  It  is  well  that  the  Church  does  not  stand  on 
man,  but  on  the  rock  of  eternity,  which  can  never  fall." 

Knowing  and  loving  "Whitefield,  as  he  did,  Pilmoor  was 
sorrowfully  affected  by  his  sudden  death.     Only  three  months 
prior  to  its  occurrence  he  and  Whitefield  were  in  affectionate 
personal  intercouse  in  New  York.     With  quickened  zeal,  no 
doubt,  Pilmoor  continued  his  activity  in  the  vineyard  from 
which  his  great  fellow-laborer  had  suddenly  departed  to  the 
heavens.     The  day  after  the  mournful  tidings  reached  him 
—October  10,  1770— Pilmoor  had  many  to  speak  with  him 
"  about  their  salvation  and  the  interests  of  the  Kedeemer's 
Kingdom."    He  also  had  much  conversation  with  a  clergyman 
who?  he  says,  "  asked  me  '  why  I  did  not  go  into  orders.'     T 
told  liini  I  had  long  been  in  orders.    *  I  mean  human  orders.' " 
Pilmoor  answered,  '*  But  suppose  I  am  satisfied  with  Divine  ?  " 
In  the  course  of  his  ministry,  Pilmoor  was  brought  into 
contact  with  a  diversity  of  persons.     October  11,  1770,  after 
preaching  in  the  evening,  "a  young  gentleman  from  Prince- 


PILMOOR  OFFERED   ORDINATION    AND    A   CHURCH      239 

ton  College,"  he  says,  "waited  on  me  at  my  lodgings,  with 
whom  I  spent  a  comfortable  hour  in  conversation  about  the 
truths  of  the  Gospel  and  the  power  of  godliness.  Who  can 
tell  but  that  dear  disciple  of  Jesus  may  be  an  instrument  of 
turning  many  to  righteousness." 

Nine  days  after  this  interview,  Pilmoor  had  a  tempting 
offer  of  a  "living."     He  had  the  pleasure  of  dining  at  Mr. 
Eoberdaw's,  he  says,  where  "  I  met  with  Mr.  Turbul,  a  gentle- 
man from  Tartola,  in  the  West  Indies.     He  offered  me  a  liv- 
ing of  four  hundred  pounds  a  year,  and  would  have  taken  me 
over  to  England,  got  me  ordained,  and  put  me  in  possession 
of  the  church.     I  told  him  I  had  no  objection  to  ordination, 
but  that  I  could  not  consent  to  settle  in  one  congregation  for 
life,  as  I  believed  I  might  do  more  good  in  the  itinerant  way." 
Yet  he  found  the  "  itinerant  way  "  laborious  and  exhausting, 
while  his  pecuniary  recompense  was  very  small.     But  a  few 
days  before  this  offer  came  to  him  he  WTote  :  "  I  found  my- 
self very  unwell.     My  breast  and  lungs  were  quite  sore  with 
so  much  preaching,  and  my  constitution  was  much  shaken. 
The  congregations  are  so  large  that  I  exert  myself  above  my 
strength  to  make  them  hear  and  do  them  good,  and  I  bless 
the  Lord  my  labor  is  not  in  vain."     He  declined  the  offer  of  a 
lar(>-e  salary  and  lighter  labor  that  he  might  prosecute  his  ar- 
duous itinerant  mission.     His  heart  was  fully  devoted  to  this 
service.     In  the  days  following  his  interview  with  the  gentle- 
man who  invited  him  to  the  Church  in  Tartola,  he  "  was  con- 
stantly  engaged   speaking   with   people   about    their   souls, 
preaching,  and  meeting  the  classes,  and  found,"  he  says,  "  my 
heart  in  the  work.    When  this  is  the  case  it  is  easy  and  pleas- 
ant, but  if  it  were  not  so  it  would  be  mere  diaidgery." 

"  His  heart  was  in  his  work,  and  the  heart 
Givetli  grace  unto  every  art." 

The  power  of  the  early  Methodist  preachers  was  largely 

heart-power. 

Captain  Webb  was  again  in  Philadelphia  on  Sunday, 
October  28,  1770.  "  I  was  glad  of  his  assistance  in  the  morn- 
ing," Pilmoor  says,  "  and  his  ministry  was  blest  to  the  souls 


240  THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


of  the  people.     At  ten  o'clock  we  went  to  Christ's  Church  to 
hear  a  young  man  just  arrived  from  London.     I  fear  such 
lifelesss  discourses  will  do  but  little  execution.     Not  the  say- 
ings of  Plato,  but  the  love  of  God  in  the  heart  will  promote 
true   benevolence  to   mankind.     At  six  in  the  evening  our 
church  was  abundantly  crowded  with  attentive  hearers,  and 
the  Lord  gave  me  power  to  preach  free  salvation  now  obtain- 
able by  faith.     The  following  day  I  was  employed  in  regu- 
lating the  society  and  preparing  for  our  quarterly  exchange." 
Tlie  last  day  of  his  second  period   of  service  in  Phila- 
delphia was  November  4,  1770,  when  after  the  morning  ser- 
vice he  "preached  to  a  great  number  of  distressed  fellow- 
creatures"  in  the  poor-house  on  the  impotent  man  at  the 
pool.     At  night  he  delivered  his  farewell  sermon  to  a  crowd- 
ed assembly.     Pilmoor  was  reluctant  at  this  time  to  say  fare- 
well to  his  congregation  in  Philadelphia.     "When  God  is 
pleased  to  make  me  useful  in  any  place,"  he  says,  "  I  should 
be  glad  to  continue,  but  the  connection  to  which  I  belong 
does  not  admit  of  it,  and,  therefore,  I  must  for  the  present 
submit.     Perhaps  a  time  may  come  when  I  shall  be  more  at 
liberty  to  follow  the  convictions  of  my  own  conscience,  and 
to  walk  according  to  my  judgment  in  the  exercise  of  my  min- 
istry." 

The  following  day,  November  5th,  he  went  with  his  friend 
Harris  to  Pennypack,  where  he  preached.  Then  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Burlington,  N.  J.,  and  preached  to  a  numerous 
congregation  in  that  town  in  the  evening.  There  he  met 
a  Quaker  with  whom  he  took  sweet  counsel—"  a  man "  he 
says,  "of  excellent  understanding,  and  yet,  like  Nathaniel, 
without  guile.  My  heart  is  so  knit  to  this  blessed  man 
of  God  that  I  find  it  a  trial  to  part."  Pilmoor  made 
an  appointment  to  preach  at  Birdington  [Bordentown], 
but  as  it  was  court-day  the  people  could  not  give  him  a 
general  hearing.  He,  however,  gave  an  exhortation  to  a  small 
congregation,  and  pushed  on  to  Trenton,  where  "  he  had  been 
desired  to  preach."  Then  he  went  to  Princeton,  and  was 
glad  to  meet  Mr.  Boardman  there  with  two  friends  from  New 
York.     Boardman  preached  in  the  chapel  of  the  college  "  to 


METHODISM   KECOGNIZED   AT  PRINCETON   COLLEGE      241 

a  few  students  and  some  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the 
town."  Thus  the  Wesleyan  Cause  received  recognition  as 
early  as  the  fall  of  1770,  in  the  chief  literary  centre  of  Ameri- 
can Presbyterianism.  After  the  sermon  in  the  chapel  the 
two  Methodist  preachers  inspected  the  college,  which,  says 
Pilmoor,  "is  a  large  and  elegant  building,  and  one  of  the 
finest  situations  in  America." 

.  Pilmoor  reached  Paulus  Hook,  now  Jersey  City,  on 
Thursday  evening,  November  8,  1770,  having  spent  four  days 
in  the  journey  from  Philadelphia.  "As  it  was  too  late  to 
take  the  boat,"  he  says,  ''  we  concluded  to  leave  the  horse  and 
chaise  all  night,  and  passed  over  on  the  small  boat.  My 
soul  was  exceedingly  happy  on  my  arrival  once  more  in  New 
York." 

16 


CHAPTEE  X. 

LABORS  OF  PILMOOR,   WEBB,   AND  BOARDMAN  IN  NEW  YORK,   AND 
THE   RESULTING  REVIVAL  IN   1770-1771. 

PiLMOOR  entered  immediately  upon  his  work,  to  which  he 
was  heartily  welcomed  by  the  Methodists  of  New  York.  He 
well  improved  the  first  Sunday  of  his  second  term  in  that 
metropolis,  wliich  was  November  11,  1770.  Of  this  Sabbath 
he  thus  speaks :  "  We  had  a  glorious  shower  of  heart-reviving 
grace  in  the  morning.  God  graciously  comforted  me  again 
at  the  Sacrament.  At  two  o'clock  I  had  the  happiness  of 
hearing  Dr.  Witherspoon,  of  Princeton  College.  He  is  a 
gentleman  of  superior  sense,  and  preaches  with  remarkable 
accuracy,  but  not  with  so  much  divine  energy  as  might  be 
expected.  Our  chapel  was  sufficiently  crowded  in  the  even- 
ing while  I  opened  and  apphed  '  Ye  must  be  born  again.' " 

Pilmoor's  reference  to  Dr.  Witherspoon  recalls  the  ser- 
vices of  one  of  the  great  leaders  in  the  cause  of  American  In- 
dependence. In  1776  Dr.  Witherspoon  was  a  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  New  Jersey,  and  for  six  years 
sat  in  clerical  dress  in  the  Continental  Congress.  He  was  an 
advocate,  and  one  of  the  signers,  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. He  also  advocated  the  Articles  of  Confederation. 
He  was  President  and  Professor  of  Divinity  of  Princeton 
College  from  1768  to  1794,  and  as  one  of  the  fathers  of  the 
American  Eepublic  his  name  is  immortal. 

Pilmoor  now  steadily  labored  amid  encouraging  signs  of 
progress.  The  members  of  the  society  were  "  pretty  lively," 
and  God,  he  says,  "has  carried  on  his  work  by  the  ministry 
of  'yh\  P>oardman."  Pilmoor  planned  a  series  of  discourses, 
of  which,  on  November  21,  1770,  he  wrote :  "  Being  fully 
convinced  of  the  vast  importance  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and 


A   REVIVAL  IN   NEW   YORK   CliY    IN   1770 


243 


how  necessary  it  is  to  the  people  to  understand  them  in  order 
to  their  present  and  future  happiness,  I  began  to  expound 
the  first  Epistle  of  St.  John.  The  novelty  of  the  thing 
brought  out  a  great  multitude  to  the  chapel,  and  it  was  a 
profitable  season.  This  encourages  me  to  go  on,  and  I  shall, 
if  God  permit,  continue  it  every  Wednesday  evenmg  while  I 

stay  in  New  York." 

The  last  day  of  November  he  had  a  very  large  congrega- 
tion, *'  many  of  whom,"  he  says,  "  have  lately  been  brought 
under  deep  concern  of  mind."    Captain  Webb  again  appealed 
on  the  scene  of  warfare  in  New  York,  and  on  December 
4th    he  preached  "on  our  Lord's  charge   to  the  Angel  of 
the  Church  at  Ephesus."     The  Captain's  words,  says  Pil- 
moor, ''  were  greatly  blessed  to  the  hearers."     Of  the  next 
day  Pilmoor  writes :  "We   had   a  fine   congregation  at  the 
lecture,  and  God  gave  me  to  speak  with  power  and  authority 
on  the  words  :  'He  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sms 
and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness.'     After  the  wor- 
ship was  over  a  woman  who  fell  down  in  the  chapel  while  I 
was  speaking,  came  into  our  house  and  told  us,  with  her  eyes 
flowing  with  tears  of  joy,  that  she  had  found  the  Lord."     Of 
the  last  two  days  of  this  first  week  of  December,  1770,  he 
savs  :  "  Had  a  precious  time  at  the  Intercession,  and  likewise 
in  the  evening,  while  I  discoursed  on, '  Surely  shall  one  say,  in 
the  Lord  have  I  righteousness  and  strength.'    Saturday,  hav- 
incf  a  favorable  opportunity,  I  was  glad  to  send,  as  a  token 
of  love,  some  of  our  American  fruit  to  the  Kev.  John  Wesley, 

in  London." 

Sunday,  December  9th,  at  six  in  the  evening,  Pilmoor 
preached  an  hour  and  twenty  minutes  on  the  Prodigal  Son. 
The  length  of  the  discourse  was  due  to  his  being  "so  drawn 
out  with  love  to  souls."  The  next  morning  he  spent  in  his 
study,  and  had  several  persons  speak  with  him  about  their 
souls,  some  of  whom  he  "  admitted  into  society.  God  is  emi- 
nently present  with  us,"  he  says,  "is  carrying  on  his  work 
in  a  wonderful  manner."  On  Sunday,  December  23d,  Pilmoor 
exclaimed :  ''  The  work  of  God  still  goes  on.  More  have 
lately  been  awakened  and  some  brought  to  the  knowledge  of 


244 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


God  their  Saviour."  In  the  morning  of  Christmas-day  Cap- 
tain Webb  preached,  and  in  the  evening,  Pilmoor.  "At  both 
meetings  the  Lord  gave  his  blessing."  The  following  day 
Pilmoor  "Preached  morning  and  evening  to  fine  congrega- 
tions of  the  most  attentive  hearers  I  ever  beheld,  and  I  had 
the  particular  satisfaction  of  returning  thanks  to  God  for  two 
poor  sinners,  who  have  lately  passed  from  death  unto  life." 

The  last  Sunday  of  1770  Pilmoor  describes  as  "  one  of 
the  days  of  the  Son  of  Man."  He  adds,  "  my  soul  exulted  in 
God's  Salvation.  I  preached  in  the  evening  on,  *  My  Grace 
is  sufficient  for  thee.'  The  congregation  was  wonderfully 
large  and  attentive  ;  the  glory  of  God  filled  the  Church,  and 
greatly  comforted  the  people.  Three  precious  souls  were 
clearly  justified  under  the  sermon,  and  many  believers  made 
joyful  in  the  Lord." 

The  last  night  of  the  year  1770  the  New  York  Wesley ans 
had  a  watch-meeting  which  had  been  threatened  by  opposers 
who  wxre  made  afraid  by  "the  terrors  of  the  Lord."  The 
meeting  continued  until  after  midnight,  the  people  witnessing 
the  end  of  the  old  year  and  the  beginning  of  the  new  one. 
Eeviewing  the  departed  year  Pilmoor  exultingly  said  :  "  This 
has  been  the  best  year  of  my  life.  God  has  wonderfully 
owned  and  blessed  me  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  so  that  I 
have  been  made  the  highly  favored  instrument  of  turning 
many  from  darkness  to  light."  At  the  watch  meeting  an  ad- 
versary w^as  vanquished.  Not  long  after  the  watch  night  he 
called  upon  the  preacher  and  desired  admission  into  the  so- 
ciety. "  I  find,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  that  he  has  been  a  great 
persecutor  of  his  wife,  and  wanted  much  to  hinder  her  from 
coming  to  the  watch  meeting  on  New  Year's  eve.  But  she  at 
length  prevailed  upon  him  to  go  with  her,  and  there  God  so 
touched  his  heart  that  he  is  now  more  zealous  than  she. 
Thus  the  Lord  is  pleased  to  display  his  victorious  grace  and 
wonderfully  subdue  the  hearts  of  sinners." 

At  his  weekly  lecture  on  the  first  Epistle  of  St.  John,  the 
second  day  of  the  year  1771,  Pilmoor  says  he  "  took  some 
pains  to  show  how  groundless  is  that  charge  so  often  made 
that  the  Methodists  were  false  prophets.     How  wonderful 


PILMOOR  HOLDS   MEETINGS   FOR   YOUNG  MEN        245 

it  is,"  he  adds,  "  that  men  should  charge  a  people  with  this 
who  have  the  least  appearance  of  it  of  any  set  of  people  on 

earth." 

There  is  no  more  interesting  class  in  any  community  than 
its  young  men.     They  are  to  become  the  leaders  of  ci\il,  so- 
cial, commercial,  and  political  movements ;  the  creators  and 
executors  of  laws ;  the  founders  of  families  and  fortunes ;  the 
<'uardians  of  education  and  morals  ;  the  pillars  of  the  Church 
and  the  State.    Joseph  Pilmoor  not  only  gave  special  care  to 
the  children,  as  we  have  seen,  but  he  also  ministered  specially 
to  young  men.     Respecting  this  feature  of  his  work  in  New 
York  he,  on  Saturday,  January  5,  1771,  wrote  :  "  Having  for 
some  time  observed  a  great  number  of  young  men  attend  the 
preaching,  and  very  few  of  them  in  the  society,  I  proposed  a 
meeting  for  them  alone  in  our  own  house,  and  this  evening  I 
had  a  fine  company  of  them."  A  week  later  he  said  :  "  All  our 
meetings  are  favored  with  the  presence  and  blessing  of  Is- 
rael's Shepherd,  but  that  on  Saturday  evening  crowns  all  the 
rest.     The  young  people  who  attend  are  all  on  fire  for  God 
and  Heaven."     Again,  in  the  same  month  he  says :  "  On  Sat- 
urday evening  I  met  the  young  men  as  usual.    Many  of  them 
were  so  affected  that  the  room  was  filled  with  their  groans 
and  crving  after  the  dear  Immanuel."     Of  Saturday,  January 
19,  1771,  he  writes  that,  "  after  spending  some  hours  in  visit- 
ing the  members  of  the  society  I  had  a  most  comfortable 
time  with  my  class  of  young  people  in  my  own  room."     Still 
later,  he  speaks  of  an  elderly  gentleman  who  was  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the  young  men,  and  who  wept  as  he  declared  that  he 
would  not  have  missed  it  for  fifty  pounds. 

Constantly,  on  Saturday  nights  Pilmoor  met  the  young 
men,  until  he  left  New  York  at  the  end  of  this  term  m  Feb- 
ruary, 1771.  On  the  second  of  that  month  he  said:  Ihe 
young  men  met  in  the  evening  and  we  had  our  usual  blessing. 
At  present  thev  bid  fair  for  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  are 
likely  to  be  good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ."  The  next  Satur- 
day night  he  was  with  them  again  and  says:  "At  seven 
o'clock  I  was  glad  to  meet  the  young  men  once  more,  and  God 
gave  us  a  special  blessing.     My  heart  is  so  knit  to  these 


246 


THE    WESLEY  AN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


young  men  that  I  find  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  part  with 

them." 

The  last  weeks  of  his  second  term  in  New  York  Pilmoor 
saw  glorious  times.  The  first  Sunday  night  of  1771,  the  word 
of  the  Lord  was  quick  and  powerful,  he  says :  ''  while  I  called 
upon  sinners  to  turn  unto  the  Lord,  who  has  promised  to 
have  mercy  upon  them,  and  He  gave  us  proof  of  it  that  night 
by  receiving  some  poor  sinners  into  His  favor  and  family." 

The  following  day  the  preacher  enjoyed  much-needed 
rest,  havino-  become  "  greatly  exhausted  with  such  abundant 
labor."  The  next  Sunday  he  had  a  cheering  smile  from 
Heaven  amidst  his  labors,  and  also  "  heard  a  useful  sermon 
at  church,  and  an  excellent  gospel  sermon  at  the  Moravian 
Chapel.  Sects  and  parties  are  nothing  to  me,"  he  exclaims, 
"  as  I  heartily  love  all  the  lovers  of  Jesus.  At  six  our  own 
chapel  was  as  full  as  it  could  hold,  and  the  blessing  of  God 
was  upon  the  congregation  while  I  preached  on  the  Importu- 
nate Widow.  My  whole  soul  has  been  this  day  on  the 
stretch  for  closer  communion  with  God.  I  can  hardly  bear 
the  thought  that  precious  souls  should  be  lost." 

The  next  day  he  ''  spent  some  time  in  visiting  from  house 
to  house."  He  was  taken  to  see  a  person  who  believed  her- 
self to  be  possessed  of  the  devil.  He  spoke  with  her  as  com- 
fortingly as  he  could,  and  had  much  liberty  of  spirit  in  praying 
for  her.^  "  After  preaching  on  Tuesday  night,"  says  Pilmoor, 
*'  a  few  of  us  met  together  to  wrestle  with  God  for  her  deliv- 
erance, and  found  Him  eminently  present  with  us."  The  fol- 
lowing day  he  set  "  apart  some  hours  for  visiting  the  people," 
and  was  "  abundantly  watered  while  watering  others."  In  the 
evening  he  gave  another  lecture  on  the  Epistle,  and  "  was 
greatly  comforted  in  speaking  on  '  When  He  shall  appear  we 
shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is.' " 

The  ardent  evangelist  continued  to  care  for  the  oppressed 
and  the  lowlv,  and  he  came  in  close  touch  with  the  poor. 
The  last  Sunday  in  January,  1771,  after  preaching,  he  "met 
the  negroes  apart,  and  found  many  of  them  very  happy.  God 
has  wrought  a  great  work,"  he  declares,  "  on  many  of  their 
souls."     Less  than  a  fortnight  afterward  "I  had,"  says  Pil- 


PROGllESS   OF   THE   REVIVAL   IN   NEW   YORK  247 

moor,  "  a  number  of  the  people  from  the  poor-house  to  sup 
with  me,  and  found  more  satisfaction  in  their  conversation 
than  in  that  of  the  most  refined  and  polite  citizens  who  are 
strangei*s  to  God." 

He  began  a  visitation  of  the  classes  on  January  28,  1771, 
and  found  their  condition  such  that  he  declared  that,  "the 
Methodists  in  New  York  are  not  one  whit  behind  their 
brethren  in  Europe,  but  in  many  respects  before  them."  At 
about  this  time  the  society  enjoyed  a  love  feast,  and  "  it  was 
indeed  a  time  of  love.  Many  of  the  new  members  as  well  as 
the  old  bore  a  noble  testimony  for  the  Lord.  While  they 
were  speaking  of  the  goodness  of  God,  His  glorious  presence 
seemed  to  fill  the  place  and  made  it  like  the  gate  of  Heaven." 
Pilmoor's  energies  and  time  were  fully  absorbed  with  the 
revival  in  New  York  which  accompanied  the  second  term  of 
his  ministry  there.  Of  this  engrossment  he,  on  February  2, 
1771,  thus  speaks:  "  This  day  I  had  a  little  time  for  reading 
and  meditation  which  was  very  agreeable,  as  I  have  had  but 
little  opportunity  for  study  since  the  Lord  began  to  revive 
his  work  among  us.  Yet  I  was  never  at  a  loss,  for  it  was 
given  me  in  that  hour  what  I  should  say." 

The  first  Sunday  in  February,  1771,  was  notable.  The 
morning  and  evening  meetings  in  John  Street  were  of  signal 
interest.  "  The  people  were  much  broken  down  "  under  the 
preaching ;  and  the  following  day  Pilmoor  "  was  constantly 
engaged  Avith  people  who  were  under  deep  impressions  and 
strong  conviction."  Pilmoor  remarks  :  "  The  word  that  is 
preached  is  like  a  sword  that  pierces  into  the  very  soul.  This, 
I  clearly  see,  is  owing  to  the  energy  of  the  Spirit  who  is 
pleased  out  of  weakness  to  ordain  strength." 

Captain  Webb  is  now  again  in  New  York,  and  on  Feb- 
ruary 6th,  Pilmoor  spent  the  morning  with  the  brave  soldier 
and  some  friends.  A  godly  Baptist  minister  visited  Pilmoor 
three  days  later,  and  gave  him  a  particular  account  of  the 
work  of  God  in  Virginia.  "  It  seems,"  Pilmoor  writes,  "  the 
Lord  is  working  by  them  (the  Baptists)  in  just  the  same 
manner  as  he  has  done  by  the  Methodists.  Vast  multitudes 
are  awakened  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  more  than 


248 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


two  thousand  have  lately  made  profession  of  faith  and  been 
baptized."  This  remarkable  revival,  the  tidings  of  which 
Pilmoor  received  in  New  York  while  he  was  witnessing  similar 
demonstrations  of  grace  there,  probably  was  in  connection 
with  the  extraordinary  evangelical  awakening  which  began  some 
time  before  this  point  of  our  narrative,  and  was  then  in  prog- 
ress, under  the  labors  of  the  Eev.  Devereux  Jarratt,  the  very 
zealous  and  laborious  rector  of  Bath  Parish,  in  Dinwiddle 
County,  Ya.,  and  another  clergyman  of  a  neighboring  parish, 
the  Kev.  Archibald  McEoberts.  Those  two  clergymen,  in 
that  dark  day  in  Virginia,  labored  in  unity  to  spread  evan- 
gelical doctrines  and  to  save  men  ;  and  they  were  instrumental 
in  kindling  a  Hame  of  revival  which  spread  abroad  and  was 
seen  afar.  The  Baptists  contributed  no  doubt  to  the  promo- 
tion of  the  gi-eat  work.  Indeed,  Jarratt  says :  "  Harmony, 
love,  and  concord  subsisted  for  many  years  among  my  hearers, 
though  not  without  some  interruption.  This  small  interrup- 
tion was  occasioned  by  the  Baptists  who,  about  the  year  1769 
or  1770,  or  it  may  be  a  little  sooner,  had  begun  to  make 
proselytes  in  Amelia  and  some  other  adjacent  counties.  These, 
by  their  assiduity  and  continual  inculcation  of  adult  baptism, 
had  shaken  the  faith  of  some  and  gained  them  over  to  their 

party."  * 

While  Pilmoor  was  yet  zealously  toiling  in  the  revival  in 
New  York,  Boardman  arrived  there,  and  on  the  last  Sunday  in 
February,  1771,  both  preachers  were  in  John  Street,  Boardman 
preaching  in  the  morning.  In  the  evening,  says  Pilmoor,  "  I 
took  leave  of  my  dear  New  Yorkers,  and  the  powder  of  God 
was  with  us  of  a  truth." 

The  revival  in  New  York  City  from  which  Pilmoor  now 
reluctantly  broke  away  to  Philadelphia,  continued  under  the 
ministry  of  Eichard  Boardman.  Under  date  of  April  23, 
1771,  Boardman  made  a  report  to  Mr.  Wesley  of  the  progress 
of  this  glorious  work  in  New  York.  His  report  is  very  inter- 
esting as  a  sequel  to  what  we  have  witnessed  already  under 
Pilmoor's  devoted  labors.  Boardman  says  :  "  It  pleases  God 
to  carry  on  his  work  among  us.     Within  this  month  we  have 

*  Life  of  Jarratt,  written  by  himself,  pp.  105-6,  Baltimore,  1806. 


PROGRESS   OF  THE   REVIVAL   UNDER  BOARDMAN      249 


had  a  great  awakenmg  here.  Many  begin  to  believe  the  report, 
and  to  some  the  arm  of  the  Lord  is  revealed.  This  last  month 
we  had  near  thirty  added  to  the  society,  five  of  whom  have 
received  a  clear  sense  of  the  pardoning  love  of  God.  We 
have  in  this  city  some  of  the  best  preachers  both  in  the 
English  and  Dutch  Churches  that  are  in  America,  yet  God 
works  by  whom  he  will  work. 

"  I  have  lately  been  much  comforted  by  the  death  of  some 
poor  negroes  who  have  gone  off  the  stage  of  time  rejoicing  in 
the  God  of  their  salvation.  I  asked  one  at  the  point  of  death, 
*  Are  you  afraid  to  die  ?  '  *  O  no,'  said  she,  '  I  have  my  blessed 
Saviour  in  my  heart.  I  should  be  glad  to  die.  I  want  to  be 
gone,  that  I  may  be  with  Him  forever.  I  know  that  He  loves 
me,  and  I  love  Him  with  all  my  heart.'  She  continued  to 
declare  the  great  things  God  had  done  for  her  soul,  to  the 
astonishment  of  many,  till  the  Lord  took  her  to  Himself. 
Several  more  seem  just  ready  to  be  gone,  longing  for  the 
time  when  mortality  shall  be  swallowed  up  of  life. 

"I  bless  God  I  find  in  general  my  soul  happy,  though 
much  tried  and  tempted,  and  though  I  am  often  made  to 
groan,  oppressed  with  unbelief.  Yet  I  find  an  increasing  de- 
gree of  love  to  God,  His  people  and  His  ways.  But  I  w^ant 
more  purity  of  intention  to  aim  at  His  glory  in  all  I  think, 
speak,  or  do.     Lord  I  believe,  help  thou  my  unbelief. 

"  We  do  not,  dear  sir,  forget  to  pray  for  you  that  God 
would  lengthen  out  your  days  ;  nor  can  we  help  praying  that 
you  may  see  America  before  you  die.  Perhaps  I  have  prom- 
ised myself  too  much  when  I  have  thought  of  this.  Lord, 
not  my  will  but  thine  be  done." 


CHAPTEK  XI. 

THE     WORK    UNDER     PILMOOR,    BOARDMAN,    WEBB,    EVANS,     KING, 
AND   WILLIAMS   IN   THE   SPRING   AND    SUMMER   OF    1771. 


After  three  months  and  three  days  of  service  in  New 
York  Pilmoor  left  that  town  February  11,  1771,  for  a  winter 
exchange.  He  and  Boardman  did  not  go  into  "winter  quar- 
ters," but  braved  the  ice  and  cold  of  the  winter  of  1770-71, 
and  also  of  the  winter  of  the  following  year  in  alternating 
between  the  cities.  Many  persons  came  to  take  leave  of 
Pilmoor,  and  about  ten  o'clock  he  set  off  for  Philadelphia. 
AVitli  some  difficulty  he  crossed  the  Hudson,  which  was  ob- 
structed by  vast  quantities  of  floating  ice.  He  reached 
Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  about  five  o'clock,  where  he  preached  to 
a  fine  congregation  in  the  Court-house  on  "Blessed  are 
they  wdiich  do  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness,  for  they 
shall  be  filled."  Many  gentlemen  followed  him  to  the  inn 
and  hospitably  invited  him  to  their  homes.  The  next  morn- 
ing a  gentleman  sent  a  carriage  for  him  and  kindly  entertained 
him  at  breakfast.  He  went  to  Woodbridge,  where  he  called 
at  a  friend's  house,  and  his  visit  proved  a  blessing  to  the 
family.  Coming  to  New  Brunswick  he  found  the  Raritan 
River  impassable  because  of  the  ice  and  the  high  winds,  so  he 
took  refuge  for  the  night  in  an  old  house,  where  he  was 
"ready  to  perish  with  the  cold."  The  next  day,  as  he  could 
not  cross  the  river,  he  drove  to  a  bridge  about  eight  miles  dis- 
tant ;  but  found  "  such  quantities  of  ice  that  he  was  obliged 
to  drive  across  fields"  to  avoid  it.  "After  much  toil  and 
fatigue,"  he  says,  "  we  came  to  a  small  town  [Millstone]  in 
Somerset  County,  where  we  were  obliged  to  stay  all  night.  I 
sent  word  through  the  town  that  I  would  preach  in  the  Court- 
house.    Many  presently  gathered,  and  I  preached  on  *  Christ 


PILMOOR'S   hard   winter  journey    IN    NEW  JERSEY   251 


in  you  the  hope  of  Glory.'  "When  I  had  done  many  fol- 
lowed me  to  the  inn,  and  seemed  as  if  they  wanted  to  hear 
more ;  so  we  joined  in  praise  and  prayer  and  they  departed. 
It  is  probable  I  should  never  have  seen  these  people  if  the 
storm  had  not  driven  us  out  of  the  w^ay." 

Early  the  next  morning,  February  14,  1771,  Pilmoor 
started  for  Trenton,  travelling  with  a  degree  of  difficulty 
through  the  woods.  Hindered  at  the  ferry  from  crossing,  he 
proceeded  to  Birdington  [Bordentown] ,  where  he  meant  to 
preach,  but  his  purpose  was  thwarted  by  his  delay.  "  How- 
ever," he  says,  "  I  got  the  family  together  at  the  inn,  where 
there  happened  to  be  much  company,  who  all  came  in.  I 
gave  them  an  exhortation."  The  next  day  many  people 
gathered  at  the  public  house  where  he  stopped,  and  begged 
him  to  give  them  a  sermon.  This  he  did  gladly,  "  and  pub- 
lished a  free  salvation  to  sinners."  He  then  went  to  Burling- 
ton and  preached  in  the  afternoon.  At  the  urgent  desire  of 
the  people,  he  gave  another  sermon  there  in  the  evening  to 
"  a  crow^Ied  audience  of  genteel  and  attentive  hearers.  God 
was  present  in  the  midst." 

The  next  day  (Saturday)  he  resumed  his  trying  journey. 
"  When  we  got  to  Cooper's  Ferry,"  he  says,  "  we  were  told 
that  we  could  not  possibly  get  over  \vith  the  horses ;  so  we 
concluded  to  leave  them  behind,  and  ventured  in  a  small 
boat  ourselves.  The  prodigious  mountains  of  ice  that  were 
floating  in  the  river  made  a  most  dreadful  appearance,  and 
threatened  us  Avith  imminent  danger.  However,  in  about  an 
hour  we  got  safely  over,  and  met  our  dear  Philadelphia 
friends  in  peace." 

From  Monday  until  Saturday  the  courageous  preacher 
journeyed  across  New  Jersey  on  his  Avay  to  the  Quaker  City. 
After  this  winter  itinerary  he  wrote  :  "  This  has  been  the  most 
dangerous,  fatiguing,  and  disagreeable  journey  I  ever  under- 
took, and  there  w^as  no  necessity  for  it  at  present,  only  Mr. 
Boardman  would  come  to  New  York,  and  I  could  not  think  of 
leaving  Philadelphia  without  a  preacher."  This  journey  was 
accomplished  more  than  tw^o-thirds  of  a  year  prior  to  the  ar- 
id val  of  Francis  Asbury  in  America.     Before  Asbury  joined 


252 


THE   WESLEYAN   M0VE3IENT  IN   AMERICA 


FIRST   PRAYER  IN   CONGRESS   WAS  BY   DUCHE       253 


them,  Boardman  and  Pilmoor,  not  to  speak  of  Webb,  Will- 
iams, and  King,  maintained  heroically  the  Wesleyan  itiner- 
ancy in  this  land,  "  in  journeyings  often,  in  perils  of  waters, 
in  perils  in  the  wilderness,  in  weariness  and  painfulness,  in 

cold." 

Pilmoor  began  his  mission  anew  in  Philadelphia  Sunday, 
Febniary  17, 1771.  He  found  a  few  people  in  the  church  in  the 
morniufT^ ;  at  night  the  attendance  was  a  little  larger,  but  he 
exclaimed,  "  O,  how  different  from  New  York."  The  next  day 
the  congi-egation,  he  says,  "  was  pretty  good.  I  was  enabled 
to  speak  with  a  measure  of  power,  and  the  AYord  seemed  to 
make  its  way  to  the  hearts  of  the  people."  The  severity  of 
the  winter  in  1771  is  indicated  not,  only  by  Pilmoor's  trying 
journey  from  New  York,  but  also  by  his  description  of  the 
weather  in  the  week  following  his  arrival  in  Philadelphia,  the 
greater  part  of  which,  he  says,  "  was  the  coldest  I  ever  re- 
member. One  day  I  was  fetched  out  to  visit  a  poor  woman 
who  was  dying,  and  I  was  in  danger  of  having  the  skin 
frozen  off  my  face.  This  made  it  dangerous  for  the  people 
to  venture  out,  so  that  we  have  had  but  very  few  to  hear  the 

AVord." 

The  departure  of  Mr.  Whitefield  again  engaged  the 
thoughts  of  our  busy  and  heroic  preacher.  On  March  5, 
1771,  he  wrote  :  "  This  day  I  received  a  letter  from  London, 
informing  me  that  Mr.  Wesley  preached  a  funeral  sermon  on 
that  great  man  of  God,  Mr.  Whitefield.  What  a  pity  Mr. 
Wesley  and  he  were  ever  divided!  However,  differences  in 
opinion  rlid  not  separate  them  in  affection,  for  they  loved  as 
brethren,  and  will  undoubtedly  rejoice  together  in  the  King- 
dom of  God." 

Pilmoor  did  not  find  the  work  in  Philadelphia  in  such  a 
lively  condition  as  he  had  left  it  in  New  York.  He  says 
March  6,  1771 :  "  Since  my  return  to  this  city  I  have  been 
much  distressed  on  account  of  the  general  deadness  that 
prevails  among  the  people,  and  have  entreated  the  Metho- 
dists to  betake  themselves  to  prayer  and  supplication  to  God 
for  a  revival  of  the  work."  The  ensuing  month  he  wrote : 
"  The  work  of  God  begins  to  revive  a  little,  but  it  is  nothing 


like  it  was  the  latter  end  of  last  summer,  and  far  short  of 
what  I  saw  in  New  York  the  beginning  of  winter.  The  con- 
gregations are  middling,  but  I  hear  of  very  few  either  con- 
vinced or  converted." 

Pilmoor's  weakened  physical  condition  probably  contrib- 
uted to  the  continuance  of  the  depression  of  the  work  at  this 
time  in  Philadelphia.  Since  his  arrival  in  America  he  had 
incessantly  labored  in  all  seasons  without  vacations.  In  the 
preceding  autumn  and  winter  especially,  he  had  given  him- 
self unsparingly  to  soul-saving  toil  in  New  York.  His  jour- 
ney thence  consumed  six  days,  including  the  time  he  spent 
in  preaching  and  visiting  during  it,  in  an  inclement  American 
winter,  with  travel  made  difficult  and  even  dangerous  by  ice 
and  cold.  The  physical  enervation  thus  resulting  undoubt- 
edly diminished  the  effectiveness  of  his  ministry  in  this  term 
in  Philadelphia.  The  first  of  May,  "  when  I  went  to  church 
to  meet  the  society,"  he  says,  "I  was  so  weak  that  I  could 
scarcely  stand  till  I  had  done.  My  constitution  has  suffered 
exceedingly  since  my  arrival  in  this  country,  yet  I  do  not  re- 
pent. The  Americans  are  so  dear  to  me  that  I  could  freely 
spend  all  my  strength,  and  even  life  itself,  to  do  them  good." 
When  he  recovered  his  strength  somewhat  he  began  the  visi- 
tation of  the  classes,  and  found  the  members  in  a  better  spir- 
itual state  than  he  expected.  "  Though  we  have  had  but  few 
awakened  or  converted  that  I  have  heard  of,"  he  says,  "  there 
is  much  cause  of  thankfulness  that  believers  have  been 
greatly  strengthened  and  built  up  in  the  Lord." 

Among  the  ministers  in  Philadelphia  at  this  time  was  the 
Eev.  Jacob  Duche,  rector  of  Christ  Episcopal  Church,  who 
in  the  outbreak  of  the  Eevolution  was  conspicuous  as  a 
patriot.  On  July  7,  1775,  he  preached  a  sermon  in  Christ 
Church  before  the  First  Battalion  of  the  City  and  Liberties 
of  Philadelphia  on  "  The  Duty  of  Standing  fast  in  our  Spir- 
itual and  Temporal  Liberties."  By  their  request  the  sermon 
was  published.  It  was  reprinted  the  same  year  in  London, 
and  announced  there  with  other  works  which  supported  the 
Colonies  in  their  gi^eat  struggle.  Duche  also  in  1774  offered 
the  first  prayer  ever  uttered  in  the  American  Congress.     In  a 


1 


254  THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 

letter  to  a  friend  John  Adams  thus  wrote  of  that  prayer  :  "  I 
must  confess  I  never  heard  a  better  prayer  pronounced. 
Episcopalian  as  he  is,  Dr.  Cooper  himself  never  prayed  with 
such  fervor  and  ardor,  such  correctness  and  pathos,  and  in 
language  so  eloquent  and  sublime  for  America,  for  Congress, 
for  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  especially  the  town 
of  Boston.  It  had  an  excellent  effect  upon  everybody.  It 
was  enough  indeed  to  melt  a  heart  of  stone,  and  I  saw  the 
tears  gush  in  the  eyes  of  the  old,  grave  Quakers  of  Philadel- 
phia." 

Three  years  before  Mr.  Duche  offered  this  historic  prayer 
Pilmoor  heard  him  preach.  Sunday,  March  17,  1771,  Pil- 
moor  wrote:  "After  hearing  that  dear  man  of  God,  Mr. 
Evans,  in  the  morning,  I  went  to  hear  the  Eev.  Mr.  Duche, 
who  is  one  of  the  best  speakers  I  ever  heard,  and  what  is  still 
better,  a  precious  child  of  God  and  a  spiritual  minister  of 
Jesus.'  I  felt  what  he  said  and  was  closely  united  with  him 
in  the  love  of  the  Gospel."  On  another  and  later  occasion 
Pilmoor  said :  "  At  Christ  Church  I  was   blest   under  the 

Eev.  Mr.  Dnche." 

Duche  was  Chaplain  to  the  Colonial  Congress  for  a 
time  in  1776  and  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  Washington. 
When  the  British  occupied  Philadelphia  he  sent  a  letter  to 
General  Washington,  who  was  at  headquarters  in  what  is  now 
Montgomery  Coimty,  Pennsylvania,  "  urging  him  to  return  to 
the  bosom  of  good  King  George."  Washington  immediately 
directed  the  epistle  to  Congress  as  "  a  letter  of  a  very  curious 
and  extraordinary  nature." 

Duche  left  for  a  foreign  shore,  and  in  a  reference  to  him 
in  a  private  letter,  the  original  of  which  is  yet  preser\^ed, 
Bishop  Asbury  says  that  Duche  was  not  permitted  to  re- 
turn from  Europe.  Asbury  also  says  that  but  for  his  espou- 
sal of  the  Eoyal  cause  in  the  war  of  Independence,  Duche 
would  have  become  the  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania.  Bishop 
White  of  that  State  testified  that  he  considered  Mr.  White- 
field  the  best  reader  he  had  ever  heard,  and  next  to  him  he 
reckoned  Duche  to  be  "  the  best  reader  of  prayers  "  in  the 
circle  of  his  acquaintance.     "  He  was,"  said  Bishop  White, 


PILMOOR,    WILLIAMS,    AND   KING  IN  PHILADELPHIA     255 

"  perhaps  not  inferior  to  Mr.  Whitefield  in  the  correctness  of 
his  pronunciation.  His  voice  was  remarkably  sweet.  Mr. 
Duche  was  frequently  oratorical  in  his  sermons,  but  never  so 
in  the  reading  of  the  prayers,  although  always  read  by  him 
with  signs  of  unaffected  seriousness  and  devotion."  * 

Pilmoor  preached  at  White  Marsh  on  April  9,  1771,  and 
eight  days  later  he  went  to  Wilmington.  He  at  this  time 
spent  four  days  travelling  and  preaching  in  Delaware.  There 
he  again  met  John  King,  whom  he  had  sent  thither  more  than 
seven  months  before.  On  April  21, 1771,  he  enjoyed  the  min- 
istry of  King  in  Philadelphia,  and  remarked  that  he  had 
wonderfully  improved  as  a  preacher.  Eobert  Williams,  too, 
was  now  in  Philadelphia  again,  and  says  Pilmoor :  "  As  I  had 
Mr.  Williams  and  Mr.  King  both  in  the  city,  I  was  glad  to 
accept  of  their  assistance,  and  we  all  united  in  striving  to- 
gether for  the  hope  of  the  Gospel.  Oui*  meetings  generally 
were  lively." 

There  is  ground  for  the  belief  that  up  to  this  time  King 
had  not  been  in  Maryland.  He  went  to  Delaware  in  Septem- 
ber, 1770,  and  on  April  18,  1771,  Pilmoor  met  him  there,  but 
he  gives  no  intimation  that  King  had  yet  been  laboring  else- 
where. King  probably  went  to  Maryland  for  the  first  time 
very  soon  after  his  above-mentioned  visit  to  Philadelphia  in 
the  spring  of  1771. 

On  one  of  those  April  days  in  1771,  Pilmoor  says :  "  Tues- 
day, as  we  had  no  preaching  in  our  own  church,  I  gladly  em- 
braced the  opportunity  of  preaching  to  the  poor  prisoners  in 
the  jail,  and  afterward  visited  the  criminals  under  sentence  of 
death."  On  Sabbath,  April  28th,  Pilmoor  applied  the  Gospel  to 
what  he  thought  was  a  moral  exigence  of  his  flock.  Some  of 
the  society  had  fallen  into  the  evil  of  backbiting  and  slander, 
so  he  lectured  on  the  fifteenth  Psalm,  "and  did  what  I  could," 
he  says,  "  to  stop  the  contagion,  and  crush  the  evil  in  the 
bud."  He  preached  the  same  day  at  Kensington,  and  when 
returning  to  the  city  he  was  stopped  by  a  Eoman  Catholic 
gentleman  who  desired  an  interview.  "He  told  me,"  says 
Pilmoor,    "he   had   been    to  hear  me,  and  in  general  liked 

*  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit,  vol.  v.,  p.  185. 


256 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


my  sermon  except  one  thing.  In  speaking  of  the  knowledge 
of  salvation,  I  happened  to  mention  priestly  absolution  and 
showed  the  people  the  absurdity  of  it.  This  it  seems  nettled 
him,  and  he  said,  '  Do  you  think,  sir,  that  any  man  can  forgive 
sin  ?  '  'Indeed,  sir,  I  do  not.'  '  But  has  not  God  given  that 
power  to  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  ?  '  *  No  sir.  All  the 
power  that  God  has  given  to  them  is  declarative,  that  is,  they 
are  to  declare  to  His  people  that  He  will  pardon  and  absolve 
all  those  that  tmly  repent  and  unfeignedly  believe  His  holy 
Gospel.'  '  And  do  you  think  the  Church  of  Eonie  pretends  to 
forgive  sins  ? '  '  Indeed,  sir,  she  does.  Did  not  Pope  Leo  X. 
send  his  Indulgences  all  over  Europe  and  pretend  to  pardon 
all  sins,  past,  present,  and  to  come,  for  one  shilling,  which  was 
the  means  of  stirring  Luther  and  in  the  end  brought  on  the 
Eeformation  ?  '  He  only  replied,  *  O  sir,  you  may  take  that 
back,'  and  suddenly  withdrew  from  me." 

The  time  for  the  fifth  exchange  of  the  two  missionaries  is 
at  hand.  On  May  lu,  17 7 i,  Pilmoor  preached  "on  the  hill." 
After  the  service  he  "  was  very  agreeably  surprised  to  meet 
Mr.  Jarvis  from  New  York."  On  retuniing,  "  I  found  Mr. 
Boardman  at  our  house,"  he  says,  "  and  our  hearts  were  com- 
forted together."  The  indebtedness  of  the  society  now  re- 
quired consideration .  "  The  next  day,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  I  called 
together  the  trustees  of  the  church  to  consult  about  paying 
the  rest  of  the  money  that  is  yet  due  upon  it,  and  we  settled 
our  temporal  concerns  in  an  amicable  manner." 

Edward  Evans  preached  in  Philadelphia  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing, May  12,  1771,  and  in  the  evening  Pilmoor  gave  his  part- 
ing'discourse  to  his  "  dear  Philadelphians."  His  journey  to 
New  York  was  sooner  accomplished  than  was  that  which  he 
made  from  it  three  months  previously.  He  took  the  stage 
with  Mr.  Jarvis,  Monday  morning,  May  13th,  and  about  seven 
the  next  evening  they  arrived  at  Paulus  Hook,  wliere  Jersey 
City  now  stands.  Tliere  he  greeted  many  of  his  friends  wlio 
had  crossed  the  Hudson  to  meet  him.  "  When  we  got  over 
the  North  River,"  he  says,  "  I  found  many  of  the  dear  citizens 
waiting  on  the  shore  to  welcome  me  back  to  New  York." 
Pilmoor  entered  upon  his  third  term  of  labor  in  New 


PILMOOR   AND   CAPTAIN   WEBB    IN   NEW   YORK       257 

York  with  his  accustomed  zeal  and  energy.  He  very  soon 
fell  sick,  and  suffered  excruciatingly,  but  he  was  quickly  with 
his  young  men.  They  gathered  at  his  house  Saturday  evening. 
May  18,  1771.  "  I  met  w  ith  them,"  he  says,  "  to  the  great 
comfort  of  my  soul.  It  is  very  remarkable  that  this  meeting 
has  been  more  blessed  than  any  other.  While  I  am  in  New- 
York  I  shall  ever  rejoice  to  spend  an  hour  once  a  week  with 

them." 

The  first  Sunday  of  this  term,  May  19th,  Pilmoor  w^as 
favored  with  the  assistance  of  Cai)tain  Webb,  and  he  says : 
"  Mr.  Webb  preached  in  the  morning,  and  the  power  of  God 
was  among  the  people,  and  likewise  in  the  evening,  while  I 
preached  with  great  enlargedness  of  heart." 

He  attended  the  College  Commencement,  as  we  have  seen, 
in  1770,  and  now  in  1771  he  was  also  present  on  a  like  occa- 
sion. His  training  in  Wesley's  Kingswood  School  and  his 
later  studies  enabled  him  to  appreciate  and  enjoy  these  liter- 
ary festivals.  He  view^ed  them,  however,  wdth  the  eye  of 
a  Methodist  evangelist.  On  May  21st  "  I  attended,"  he 
says,  "the  Commencement  at  Trinity  Church  and  heard 
the  orations  of  the  young  men  that  were  studying  for  their 
degrees.  One  of  them  spoke  well  on  love,  and  another  on 
ambition,  but  I  heard  nothing  about  faith  in  Christ.  This  is 
quite  out  of  fashion  in  our  day,  and  a  gentleman  intended  for 
the  gown  will  pass  very  well  if  he  says  nothing  about  justifi- 
cation by  faith." 

He  gave  the  last  three  days  of  May  to  an  evangelistic  ex- 
cursion in  the  country,  during  which  he  preached  at  New 
Rochelle,  East  Chester,  and  elsewhere.  A  little  later,  in  very 
hot  weather,  he  preached  at  Cow^  Neck  and  Newtown,  Long 
Island,  and  on  June  6th  he  w^as  in  the  city  visiting  from 
house  to  house.  From  this  domiciliary  work  "Nature 
shrinks,"  he  says,  "  but  still  I  go  on,  and  God  is  with  me." 
There  was  "  the  shout  of  a  King  in  Zion,"  on  Sunday,  June 
9th.  In  the  evening  he  was  called  to  see  a  dying  w  oman  in 
the  poor-house,  in  whom  he  beheld  an  example  of  grace  tri- 
umphant "over  abject  poverty  and  afflicted  Nature."  A 
field-preacher,  he,  Saturday  evening,  June  15th,  cried  to  a  lis- 
17 


258 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


tening  and  decorous  multitude  in  the  fields,  ^'  Kepent  and  be 
converted,  that  your  sins  may  be  blotted  out."  The  next  day 
(Sunday)  a  divine  visitation  was   enjoyed  in  John  Street. 

Many  felt  ^ .  ^  ^ 

*'  That  speechless  awe  which  dares  not  move, 

And  all  the  silent  heaven  of  love." 

In  the  evening  the  people  crowded  the  chapel.  "As  some 
had  charged  us  with  denying  original  sin,"  says  Pilmoor. 
''  I  took  some  pains  to  convince  them  of  their  mistake." 
This  indicates  that  Methodism  was  not  yet  fully  understood 
in  New  York.  It  was  still  in  the  tentative  stage  of  its  prog- 
ress in  America. 

Pilmoor  was  with  his  young  men  on  June  -29,  and  also 
July  1,  1771.     Of  the  first  date  he  says,  "  I  met  the  young 
men.     God  is  again  reviving  his  work  among  them."     On 
the  latter  day  he  says,  "  I  went  privafehj  to  hear  how  they 
proceeded,  and  was  glad  to  find  them  so  clear  in  their  judg- 
ment and  so  devout  toward  God."     In  viewing  the  work  now 
in  the  summer  and  recalling  to  mind  the  revival  he  witnessed 
the  preceding  winter  in  New  York,  he  wrote  :  "  When  I  was 
here  last,  many  sinners  were  convinced  and  converted ;  now 
the  work  is  chiefly  among  professors."     By  permission  of  the 
sheriff,  he  preached   to  the  prisoners   on  July  6th.     Three 
days  subsequently  he  dined  with  Captain  Devereux  and  sev- 
eral other  captains,  with  whom  he  "  had  pleasing,  profitable 
conversation,  and  was  glad  to  find  them  willing  to  join  in 
prayer."     He  preached  at  Rye,  July  18,  1771,  and  was  also 
at   New   Eochelle.     Thence   he   went   to  Long   Island  and 
preached  at  Jamaica  and  elsewhere,  faithfully  sowing  beside 

all  waters. 

A  few  days  later  he  began  a  course  of  lectures  in  New 
York  on  ''  The  Lord's  Prayer."  Serial  sermons  have  been 
common  in  these  later  days ;  this  method  of  teaching,  how- 
ever, was  practised,  if  not  introduced  in  this  coimtry,  by 
Joseph  Pilmoor.  Two  sermons  in  this  series  were  preached 
Sunday,  July  28th,  another  on  the  Friday  night  following, 
and  two  others  the  next  Sunday.  Altogether  he  gave  nine 
sermons  in  the  course.     As  we  have  seen,  he  preached  a  se- 


CLASSES,    LOVE   FEAST,   AND  NEGROES  IN  NEW  YORK    259 

ries   of  discourses  on  the  same  theme  in  Philadelphia,  in 

January,  1770. 

A  powerful  arm  of  the  aggressive  Methodism  of  the  past 
was  the  weekly  class.     It  was  unequalled  as  a  school  for  in- 
doctrinating beginners  in  the  religious  life,  and  for  the  pre- 
liminary training  of  the  lay  evangelists  and  itinerant  preach- 
ers whom  Methodism  thrust  forth.     Boardman  and  Pilmoor 
vigilantly   maintained   the    class-meeting    in   this    country. 
The  latter  met  three  of  the  classes  in  New  York,  on  July  27, 
1771,  and  says,  "I  found  the  greater  part  of  the  members  in 
a  prosperous   condition,  and  going  on  in  the  name  of   the 
Lord."     The  love-feast,  as  we  have  seen,  was  also  observed 
in  those  first  years  of  New  York  Methodism.     A  few  days 
after  this   visitation   of  classes  by  the  preacher,  he  wrote : 
''In   the   evening   we   had   our  Quarterly  love-feast.     They 
spoke  freely  of  the  goodness  of  God,  while  a  profound  awe 
seemed  to  sit  on  every  countenance.     One  of  the  poor  ne- 
groes declared  her  heart  was  so  full  of  divine  love  she  could 
not  express  it,  and  many  more  of  them  were  exceedingly 
happy."    Thus  it  appears  that  at  that  time  numerous  colored 
people  were  members  of  the  John  Street  Society,  and  some, 
if  not  most  of  them,  no  doubt,  were  slaves.     Slavery  was  en- 
countered very  early  by  that  Society.     Pilmoor,  in  New  York, 
wrote  concerning  the  slaves  :  "  If  the  people  who  keep  them 
in  a  state  of  slavery  did  but  take  pains  to  have  them  in- 
structed in  the  religion  of  Jesus  it  would  be  some  compensa- 
tion for  the  loss  of  their  liberty,  but  this,  alas,  is  too  much 
neglected.     Yet  there   are   a  goodly  number  of  Masters  in 
America  who  are  glad  to  do  all  in  their  power  for  them." 
Whether   in   slavery   or  freedom,  the   colored   people   have 
shared  largely  in  the  redeeming  ministries  of  Methodism. 
From  the  beginning  they  have  been  drawn  to  its  altars,  and 
to  it  they  are  greatly  indebted  for  their  moral  elevation  and 
for  their  emancipation. 

Robert  Williams  again  appears  in  New  York  City,  where 
he  preached  on  Sunday,  August  11,  1771.  Pilmoor  says,  "  I 
was  glad  of  Mr.  Williams's  assistance  in  the  morning.  He 
gave  us  a  very   good   sermon  on  the  Love  gf  God,  and  it 


260 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


proved  a  blessing  to  the  people."  Pilmoor,  being  about  to 
leave  for  Philadelphia,  gave  his  valedictory  discourse  in  the 
evening.  It  was  heard  by  "  a  vast  crowd  and  many  were 
greatly  affected." 

One  of  the  many  errors  relating  to  the  planting  of  Meth- 
odism in  America,  which  mar  the  pages  of  nearly  all  its  his- 
tories, is   that   concerning  Eobert  Williams  which  Lednum 
gave  forth.     Lednum  says,  that  as  New  York  was  Williams's 
''  first  field  of  labor  in  the  New  AYorld,  where  he  found  kind 
friends  and  kindred  spirits,  he  hugged  it  closely  for  about 
two  years  and  a  half,  when  he  went  to  Virginia."     This  asser- 
tion is  unjust  to  the  memory  of  a  sainted  laborer,  who  was 
foremost  in  itinerant  and  apostolic  service  during  the  very 
period  ill  which   Lednum  declares  "he  hugged"  New  York 
"  closely."     Williams  came  from  Europe  to  Norfolk,  and  the 
time  of  his  coming  was  in  the  summer  of  1769,  as  there  is 
reason  to  believe.     Thence  he  went  to  New  York,  and  la- 
bored in  John  Street  before  Boardman  arrived  there.     The 
last  of  the  following  October  he  left  that  city,  and  on  Novem- 
ber 1,  1769,  he  was  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  preached  sev- 
eral times.     The  sixth  of  the  same  month,  after  preaching  at 
five  in  the  morning,  he  left  Philadelphia  for  Maryland.     Seven 
months  later,  "  having  lately  come  up  from  Maryland,"  Will- 
iams  preached  in  New  York.     In  seventeen  days  more  he 
started   again  for   his  soiithem  field,  for  on  June  20,  1770, 
Pilmoor  says,  "  Mr.  Williams  set  off  [from  New  York]  to  Phil- 
adelphia on  his  way  to  Maryland."     The  seventh  of  the  fol- 
lowing October  he  was  in  Philadelphia,  and  April  21,  1771,  he 
was  again  in  the  same  city,  and  August  11th  of  the  same  year 
he  wa's  in  New  York  once  more.     These  long  itineraries  by 
Williams  were  performed  in  advance  of  Asbury's  coming.     A 
fortnight  after  the  arrival  of  Asbury,  namely  November  11, 
1771,  we  meet  Williams  again  in  Philadelphia,  and  on  that 
day  we  see  him  starting  in  company  with  Eichard  Wright  for 

Wilmington. 

Thus  we  have  determinative  proof  in  the  Journal  of  Pil- 
moor, who  personally  knew  of  Williams's  whereabouts  on  the 
above  dates,  that  during  the  first  two  and  a  quarter  years 


ROBERT  WILLIAMS'S  WIDE   TRAVELS    ON    HORSEBACK      261 

after  his  arrival  in  America  Eobert  Williams,  instead  of  "  hug- 
ging" New  York  City,  was  travelling  over  most,  if  not  the 
whole,  of  the  already  extensive  circuit  of  American  Method- 
ism. He  travelled  on  horseback,  for  we  can  scarcely  presume 
that  he  claimed  the  luxury  of  a  carriage.  Williams  is  men- 
tioned in  the  "  Old  Book  "  of  John  Street,  on  March  1,  1770, 
in  connection  with  the  payment  of  16  shillings  8  pence  for 
"  his  horse  while  at  Douglas's,  on  Staten  Island."  Three 
weeks  later  there  is  an  entry  in  the  same  book  of  12  shil- 
lings "paid  more  for  keeping  his  horse,"  and  August  30, 
1771,  there  is  still  another  record  of  18  shillings  paid  to 
"  Caleb  Hyatt  for  Mr.  Williams's  horse  keeping."  From  1769 
to  the  ari'ival  of  Asbury,  in  the  latter  part  of  1771,  Williams 
penetrated  many  rural  neighborhoods  from  New  Piochelle  in 
the  North,  to  the  region  of  the  Chesapeake,  and  poured  from 
his  anointed  lips  the  thrilling  strains  of  a  divine  salvation. 
We  meet  him  only  occasionally,  yet  with  sufficient  frequency, 
to  know  that  he  was  an  alert,  invincible  and  powerful  itinerant 
herald  of  the  evangelical  doctrines. 

Lednum  fell  into  error  again  concerning  Williams,  when 
he  asserted  that  "  John  King  seems  to  have  been  the  first  of 
the  four  preachers  who  came  over  in  1769,  that  entered  the 
Maryland  field."  Not  four,  but  three  preachers  only  came 
hither  in  that  year,  namely,  Williams,  Boardman,  and  Pil- 
moor. King  did  not  arrive  until  the  summer  of  the  following 
year.  Nor  was  King  the  first  of  these  who  went  to  Mary- 
land, as  has  been  shown  already,  for  Williams  labored  in 
that  province  for  some  time  and  had  thence  returned  to  New 
York,  before  King  began  his  ministry  in  America. 

Pilmoor  commenced  preparations  for  his  journey  to  Phd- 
adelphia  on  August  12,  1771,  in  his  sixth  exchange  with 
Boardman.  "  In  the  evening,"  he  says,  "  a  great  number  of 
the  dear  people  went  over  the  river  with  me  to  Paulus  Hook. 
After  supper  we  had  a  solemn  season  while  we  joined  m 
prayer  to  the  Infinite  God,  who  has  so  closely  united  our 
hearts  in  the  bonds  of  the  Gospel  Most  of  them  then  re- 
turned to  the  city,  and  the  rest  determined  to  wait  and  see 
me  set  off  in  the  morning."     The  next  day  in  company  with 


262 


THE    WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


Mr.  Newton,  Pilmoor  took  the  stage  for  Philadelphia,  where 
after  a  very  pleasant  journey  they  arrived  the  following  even- 
ing, August  14,  1771. 

Pilmoor's  previous  term  in  Philadelphia  did  not  furnish 
many  occasions  of  exultation.  Eather  he  labored  under  a 
degree  of  depression  arising,  no  doubt,  from  his  bodily  ener- 
vation, as  well  as  from  the  absence  of  such  visible  results  of 
his  ministry  as  he  had  formerly  witnessed  in  that  city. 
Though  the  cause  was  maintained,  its  advancement  was  not 
such  as  he  longed  to  see.  Now  he  enters  upon  his  fourth 
term  of  preaching  in  the  Quaker  City  under  more  hopeful 
conditions.  He  remembered  the  triumphs  of  his  earlier  min- 
istry there,  and  he  looked  to  the  same  source  of  power  for 
similar  victories.     Signs  of  prosperity  quickly  appeared. 

Boardman  remained  in  Philadelphia  until  the  second  day 
after  Pilmoor's  arrival.  "  Mr.  Boardman  took  his  departure 
for  New  York"  August  15th,  writes  Pilmoor,  "and  I  entered 
upon  my  work  in  Philadelphia.  My  heart  was  deeply  af- 
fected at  the  consideration  of  what  I  had  seen  in  this  city 
some  time  ago.  The  Word  did  then  run,  and  was  glorified 
indeed,  and  God  is  still  the  same." 

On  the  first  Sabbath  of  his  fourth  term  in  Philadelphia 
Pilmoor  was  refreshed  at  the  morning's  service  and  also  in 
hearing  Dr.  AVitherspoon  in  the  Arch  Street  Church,  but  he 
says,  "  My  greatest  comfort  w\as  in  the  evening  while  I  pub- 
lished the  everlasting  Gospel  to  about  fifteen  hundred  people 
in  our  own  church,  who  all  attended  in  solemn  silence. 
After  preaching  a  man  came  to  me  in  great  distress.  He 
had  been  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Society  in  Dublin,  but 
was  divawn  into  sin  and  wandered  from  God.  He  now  feels 
a  strong  desire  to  return." 

A  laborious  but  happy  day  to  the  indefatigable  preacher 
was  the  first  Sunday  of  September,  1771.  "  I  began  my 
work,"  he  says,  "  in  the  sanctuary  with  that  glorious  invita- 
tion, '  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,' 
etc.  After  dinner  I  took  my  stand  on  the  steps  of  the  State 
House,  where  I  explained  to  a  prodigious  multitude,  '  Then 
the  Lord  of  that  servant  was  moved  with  compassion,  and 


TIMES   OF   REFRESHING 


263 


loosed  him  and  forgave  him  the  debt.'  As  I  was  obliged  to 
exert  myself,  I  was  pretty  much  fatigued,  but  an  hour's  rest 
restored  me  so  that  I  was  able  to  preach  to  a  vast  crowd  in 
the  church  at  six  o'clock,  and  my  heart  rejoiced  in  God,  my 
Saviour,  while  I  cried,  '  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  Avhich 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world.'  This  was  like  one  of  our 
old  times.  The  people  were  as  serious  as  death,  receiving 
the  word  of  the  Lord  with  eagerness.  Nor  was  it  in  vain. 
Many  were  greatly  refreshed,  and  one  poor  sinner  was 
brought  into  the  liberty  of  the  Sons  of  God.  The  next  day 
I  had  many  to  speak  with  me  of  the  things  of  God,  several 
of  whom  are    waiting  for    redemption  in    the   blood  of  the 

Lamb." 

The  next  Sunday,  September  8,  Pilmoor  preached  in  the 
city  in  the  morning,  and  then  preached  again  at  Gloucester, 
N.  J.  That  night  he  had  "  a  vast  congregation  "  in  Phila- 
delphia. On  Monday  he  "spent  some  hours  in  visiting 
from  house  to  house,"  and  says,  "  I  found  it  ]3rofitable  to  my- 
self as  well  as  to  the  people.  At  seven  the  church  was  al- 
most as  full  as  on  Sunday  evenings,  and  all  sat  with  the 
deepest  seriousness  while  I  preached  on  '  Thou  art  weighed 
in  the  balances,  and  art  found  wanting.'  This  was  one  of 
the  most  solemn  hours  of  my  life  and  one  of  the  most  profit- 
able. I  felt  as  though  I  saw  the  Judge  on  his  Great  White 
Throne,  and  all  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  my  heart  were 
laid  open  before  him.  I  could  bless  his  name  for  some  de- 
gree of  rectitude  of  both  heart  and  life,  but  would  not  for  a 
thousand  worlds  have  ventured  my  soul  upon  it.  On  Zion's 
rock  I  build  and  there  I  stand  secure." 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  following  Tuesday 
he  had  "  a  fine  congregation,"  and  "  God  gave  his  blessing 
with  the  Word."  Wednesday,  the  11th,  he  says,  "  I  had  sev- 
eral persons  speak  with  me  about  the  way  of  salvation,  one 
of  whom  was  a  Papist.  At  present  he  is  in  great  distress  of 
soul  and  waiting  for  salvation,  not  by  works  of  righteousness 
which  he  has  done,  but  by  the  mercy  of  God  through  the 
blood  and  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ."  He  adds  the  re- 
mark that  "  when   Boman   Catholics  come  to  be  converted 


264 


THE    WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


they  make  excellent  Christians,"  which  implies  that  he  had 
known  such  examples.  We  shall  see  that  this  was  not  the 
only  instance  of  a  Catholic  coming  to  him  to  inquire  the  way 

of  life. 

The  great  proportion  of  the  Koman  Catholic  population  in 

our  cities  constitutes  one  of  the  problems  of  American  city 
evangelization.  Catholics  were  in  the  cities  when  Boardman 
and  Pilmoor  labored  here,  though  in  less  numbers  propor- 
tionately than  now.  While  they  by  their  ministry  reached 
persons  of  almost  every  class  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
they  did  not  fail  of  access  to  Papists.  A  prominent  Catholic 
priest  once  told  me  that  a  high  Catholic  authority  has  es- 
timated that  five  millions  of  adherents  of  the  Eoman  Catholic 
Church  have  been  lost  to  it  in  America.  Many  adherents  of 
that  church  have  experienced  a  spiritual  conversion  through 
the  ministry  of  Methodism. 

Pilmoor  was  in  St.  George's  in  the  morning  of  the  Lord's 
Day,  September  15,  where  he  uttered  "strong  words,"  which 
were  borne  upon  the  hearers  with  vividness  and  power.  At 
11  o'clock  he  was  at  Chestnut  Hill,  ten  miles  distant,  where, 
amidst  shadowing  trees,  he  preached  to  "  a  vast  congrega- 
tion" on  *'  Flee  from  the  wrath  to  come."  Of  this  impres- 
sive rural  scene  he  says :  "  The  fine  spreading  oaks  formed  a 
noble  canopy  above  us,  and  we  were  as  happy  in  the  grove 
as  in  the  most  pompous  temple."  On  returning  to  the  city 
he  felt  much  fatigued,  but  says,  "  the  Lord  so  renewed  my 
strength  in  preaching  to  the  great  congregation  that  I  was  as 
able  k)  preach  as  if  I  had  rested  all  the  day."  The  next  Sab- 
bath was  a  good  day.  Pilmoor  declares,  "  we  had  a  gracious 
visitation  from  the  Lord  which  made  us  rejoice  and  exult  in 
His  name.     Afterward  I  heard  an  excellent  sermon  from  Mr. 

Duche." 

Horse-racing  was  practised  at  that  time,  and  at  the  gen- 
eral society,  September  25,  1771,  Pilmoor  cautioned  the 
Methodists  against  going  to  the  horse-race  which  was  soon 
to  occur.  '*  From  January  1,  1892,  to  January  1,  1893,  the 
stakes  and  purses  of  American  race -courses  amounted 
to  $5,000,000,   and   the   betting  upon  the  races  was   fully 


PILMOOR   VISITS   A   QUAKER   PREACHER 


205 


$400,000,000."  The  Kev.  F.  W.  Kobertson  says,  "  there  is  a 
gambling  spirit  in  human  nature."  '^  That  spirit  it  is  the 
mission  of  the  Church  to  exorcise.  Had  Pilmoor's  caution 
to  the  Philadelphia  Methodists  been  heeded  by  the  Ameri- 
can people,  this  source  of  human  demoralization  in  this  coun- 
try would  have  ceased. 

Pilmoor  came  in  contact  with  the  quiet  Friends  in  the 
Quaker  City,  and  was  sometimes  refreshed  with  them.  He 
went  to  visit  "that  dear  man  of  God,  George  Dilwyn,"  with 
whom  he  sustained  a  friendly  relation.  "  He  is  one  of  the 
best  preachers  I  have  ever  heard  among  the  Quakers,"  he 
writes.     "  My  heart  is  so  united  with  him  that  I  trust  we 

the   heaven  of  heavens  forever  and 


m 


shall   live  together 
ever." 

While  he  visited  from  house  to  house  he  redeemed  time 
for  solitary  meditation  and  study.  "lam  glad  to  visit  the 
people,"  he  says,  "  and  do  all  in  my  power  to  further  them  in 
the  way  of  salvation,  but  I  hate  gossiping,  as  it  directly  tends 
to  dissipate  the  mind  and  promotes  lightness  and  trifling. 
Hence,  I  think  it  my  duty  to  be  as  much  as  possible  in  my 
closet,  striving  to  furnish  myself  with  matter  for  the  great 
work  of  the  Lord." 

There  were  more  than  two  hundred  people  at  the  week- 
day early  morning  service  in  St.  George's  the  22d  of  October, 
1771.  "  The  Lord  caused  us  to  rejoice  in  his  salvation,"  says 
Pilmoor.  "  Afterwards  spent  an  hour  with  Mr.  Coates  and 
his  family,  where  the  Lord  has  lately  wrought  a  wonderful 
change  by  the  preaching  of  His  Gospel.  The  work  now  be- 
gins to  revive  again  ;  many  flock  to  the  preaching  and  begin 
to  inquire  what  they  must  do  to  be  saved.  Believers  are 
comforted  and  backsliders  healed."  We  shall  witness  in  a 
future  chapter  the  completion  of  Pilmoor's  labors  in  this,  his 
fourth,  term  in  Philadelphia. 

*  Robertson's  Sermons,  Third  Series,  p.  65. 


CHAPTEE  Xn. 

THE  OUTSPREAD  OF  METHODISM   IN  THE  COUNTRY   PRIOR   TO  THE 

ARRIVAL  OF   FRANCIS  ASBURY. 

William  Watters,  who  was  converted  in  Maryland,  in 
1771,  asserts  that  up  to  the  summer  of  that  year  there  had 
been  but  three  Methodist  preachers  in  that  province,  and 
that  these  were  Strawbridge,  Williams,  and  King.  Soon  after- 
ward KichardOwings,  or  Owen  (both  spelHngs  of  the  name  oc- 
cur in  the  early  records),  appeared  as  a  local  evangelist  in 
Maryland.  Except  Evans,  Owen,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the  first 
preacher  raised  up  by  Methodism  in  America.  Therefore, 
in  the  summer  of  1771,  there  were  only  eight  Methodist 
preachers  in  America.  They  were  Philip  Embury,  Thomas 
Webb,  Kichard  Boardman,  Joseph  Pilmoor,  Eobert  WiUiams, 
Edward  Evans,  and  John  King.  The  spread  of  the  Wesleyan 
movement  over  the  country,  prior  to  the  arrival  of  Francis 
Asbury,  was  due  to  the  labors  of  these  nine  men. 

We  are  now  to  inquire  as  to  the  extent  Methodism  had 
spread  abroad  in  the  country  anterior  to  the  time  of  Asbury's 
arrival.  Captain  Webb  began  to  preach  as  early  at  least  as 
17ri7,  on  Long  Island,  where  "within  six  months  about 
twenty-four  persons  received  justifying  Grace."  ^^  As  Webb 
lived  at  Jamaica,  Long  Island,  it  is  probable  that  he 
preached  there  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as  early  as  he  preached  in 

New  York. 

The  work  began  in  Maryland  previous  to  the  summer  of 
1768,  for  in  August  of  that  year  the  tidings  that  "  a  few  peo- 
ple ill  Maryland  had  lately  been  awakened  under  the  minis- 
try of  Kobert  Strawbridge  "  were  borne  to  the  English  Con- 
ference.    As,  according  to  Pilmoor,  "the  people"  who  had 

♦  Thomas  Taylor's  letter  to  Mr.  Wesley,  dated  New  York,  April  11,  1768. 


CONVERSION   OF   WILLIAM   WATTERS 


267 


been  thus  "  awakened  "  at  that  time  were  "  few,"  and  their 
awakening  had  but  "  lately  "  occurred,  it  seems  clear  that  the 
movement  in  Maryland  under  Strawbridge  did  not  begin  very 
loner  before  August,  1768,  probably  as  early,  however,  as  the 
preceding  year.  Robert  Williams  left  Philadelphia,  Novem- 
ber 6,  1769,  for  Maryland,  and  he  returned  northward  in  the 
following  spring.  He  preached  in  New  York  City,  says  Pil- 
moor, June  3,  1770,  having  ^'  lately  come  up  from  Maryland." 
A  little  more  than  a  fortnight  later  WiUiams  again  started 
for  Maryland,  and  at  that  time  Pilmoor  declared  that  Meth- 
odism was  "  continually  spreading  wider  and  wider  "  in  that 
province.     As  early  as  the  fall  of  1769  it  had  spread  into 

Baltimore  County. 

William  Watters  lived  in  Baltimore  County,  and  in  his 
autobiography  he  says  that  some  time  in  July,  1770,  he  had 
frequent  opportunities  of  hearing  Methodist  preaching  in  his 
neighborhood.  Though  his  parents  were  strict  members  of 
the'' Church  of  England,  he  says  that  he  had  none  to  teach 
him  the  way  of  salvation.  The  two  parish  clergymen  he 
knew  had  no  gifts  for  the  ministry,  and  besides,  they  were  im- 
moral men.  Through  the  labors  of  the  Methodist  preachers 
Watters  was  brought  to  serious  reflection  and  became  an 
earnest  penitent.  "  Several  praying  persons,"  he  says,  ''  who 
knew  my  distress  came  to  visit  me,  and  after  some  conversa- 
tion I  desired  that  they  would  pray  for  me.  The  family  were 
called  in,  though  it  was  about  the  middle  of  the  day,  and 
J.  P.  [Joseph  Presbury,  probably]  gave  out  the  hymn: 

"  Give  to  the  winds  thy  fears, 
Hope  and  be  undismayed  ; 
God  hears  thy  sighs  and  counts  thy  tears, 
God  shall  lift  up  tliy  head.' 

While  they  all  joined  in  singing,  my  face  was  turned  to 
the  wall,  with  my  eyes  lifted  upward  in  a  flood  of  tears,  and  I 
felt  a  lively  hope  that  the  Lord  whom  I  sought  would  sud- 
denly come  to  His  temple.  My  good  friends  sang  with  the 
Spirit  and  in  faith.  The  Lord  heard  and  appeared  in  the 
midst  of  us.      A  divine  light    beamed   through   my  inmost 


268 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN    AMERICA 


soul,  and  in  a  few  minutes  encircled  me  round,  surpassing  the 
brightness  of  the  sun.  My  burden  was  gone,  my  sorrow  fled, 
my  soul  and  all  that  was  within  me  rejoiced  in  hope  of  the 
glory  of  God,  while  I  beheld  such  a  fullness  and  willing- 
ness in  the  Lord  Jesus  to  save  lost  sinners,  and  my  soul  so 
rested  on  Him  that  I  could  now  for  the  first  time  call  Jesus 
Christ  Lord  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  hymn  being  concluded, 
we  all  fell  upon  our  knees,  but  my  prayers  were  turned  into 
praises.  A  supernatural  power  penetrated  every  faculty  of 
my  soul  and  body."     This  was  in  May,  1771. 

Having  never  known  nor  heard  of  any  other  people  who 
professed  a  knowledge  of  what  he  had  experienced,  and  having 
been  brought  into  that  experience  through  their  instrumen- 
tality, Watters,  of  course,  united  with  the  Methodists.  He 
"thought  it  a  greater  blessing  to  be  received  among  them 
than  to  be  made  a  prince."  His  conversion  occurred  in  the 
same  house  in  which  he  was  born.  There  was  so  little 
Methodist  preaching  in  Maryland  then  that  frequently  in 
Watters's  neighborhood  there  was  for  months  very  Httle 
preaching.  The  converts,  however,  supplied  the  lack  of 
ministerial  service.  "  Li  one  sense,"  said  Watters,  "  we  were 
all  preachers.  The  visible  change  which  sinners  could  not 
but  see  was  a  means  of  leading  them  to  seek  the  Lord.  On 
the  Lord's  Day  we  commonly  divided  into  little  bands,  and 
went  out  into  different  neighborhoods  wherever  there  ^vas  a 
door  open  to  receive  us— two,  three,  or  four  of  our  company 

and  would  sing  our  hymns,  read,  pray,  talk  to  the  people, 

and  some  soon  began  to  add  a  word  of  exhortation.  We 
were  weak,  but  we  lived  in  a  dark  day,  and  the  Lord  greatly 
owned  our  labors.  The  little  flock  was  of  one  heart  and 
mind,  and  the  Lord  spread  the  leaven  of  his  grace  from 
heart  to  heart,  from  house  to  house,  and  from  one  neighbor- 
hood to  another.  Though  our  gifts  were  small,  it  was  as- 
tonishing to  see  how  rapidly  the  work  spread  all  around, 
bearing  down  the  little  oppositions  it  met  as  chaff  before  the 
wind.  Many  will  praise  God  forever  for  our  prayer-meet- 
inc^s.  In  many  neighborhoods  they  soon  became  respectable, 
and  were  considerably  attended  to." 


TRAINING   OF   EARLY   METHODIST   PREACHERS        269 

Thus  the  cause  advanced  in  Maryland,  notwithstanding  the 
fewness  of  the  laborers,  and  thus,  too,  were  the  early  Metho- 
dist preachers  commonly  trained  for  their  soul-winning  voca- 
tion.    They  became  skilful  in  saving  men  by  going  out,  as 
did  Watters,  with  the  experience  of  a  new  life,  singing,  pray- 
ing, and  exhorting  from  house  to  house  and  from  one  neigh- 
borhood to  another.     From  such  humble,  but  useful,  service 
Watters  soon   advanced  to   the   Wesleyan   itinerancy.     The 
primitive  Methodist  evangelists  had  neither  the  time  nor  the 
facilities   for   acquiring   liberal   culture.     They   were   thrust 
forth  in  the  Providence  and  by  the  Spirit  of  God  into  the 
great  American  evangelical  field,   which  was  white  for  the 
harvest.     Their  phenomenal  success  illustrated  what  Farrar 
has  said  concerning  primitive  Christianity  :    "  Converts  were 
won,  not  by  learning  or  argument,  but  by  the  power  of  a  new 
testimony  and  the  spirit  of  a  new  life."  "     Emerson  says  that 
"  in  any  public  assembly  him  who  has  the  facts,  and  can  and 
will  state  them,  people  will  listen  to,  though  he  is  otherwise 
ignorant,  though  he  is  hoarse  and  ungraceful,  though  he  stut- 
ters and   screams." t     Carlyle   has  said:    "Let  a   man    but 
speak  forth  with  genuine  earnestness  the  thought,  the  emo- 
tion, the  actual  condition  of  his  own  heart,  and  other  men,  so 
strangely  are  we  all  knit  together  by  the  tie  of  sympathy, 
must  and  will  give  heed  to  him."  t     The  early  Methodist 
preachers  spoke  their  message  from  the  heart.     They  knew 
the    "facts"    concerning  salvation,  and  as  they  boldly,  but 
persuasively,  proclaimed  them  the  people  listened  and  were 
moved.     What  Farrar  says  of  St.  Paul's  preaching  was  true 
of  theirs :    "  What  was  lacking  in  formal  syllogism  or  power- 
ful declamation  was  more  than  supplied  by  power  from  on 

high." 

Methodism  early  entered  Dela^vare.  In  the  fall  of  1769 
Captain  Webb  was  in  Wilmington  and  brought  the  tidings  of 
the  success  of  his  labors  there  in  turning  people  to  the  Lord 
to  Philadelphia.  John  King  went  to  Delaware  to  promote 
the  work  in  the  beginning  of  the  autumn  of  1770.     Joseph 

*  F.  W.  Farrar's  Life  and  Work  of  St.  Paul. 

t  Society  and  Solitude.  X  Essay  on  Robert  Burns. 


270 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


Pilmoor  on  April  17,  1771,  says  :  "  Having  had  a  pressing  in- 
vitation I  set  ojff  in  the  morning  for  Wilmington.  In  the 
evening  I  found  a  fine  congregation."  The  next  day,  April 
18,  1771,  he  wrote :  "  I  met  with  Mr.  John  King,  the  person 
I  sent  to  these  parts  several  months  ago.  God  has  made  him 
the  instrument  of  abundance  of  good  to  the  country  people." 
After  meeting  King,  Mr.  Pilmoor  advanced  to  Newark,  Dela- 
ware, and  on  the  way  "  we  called  on  an  old  disciple  of  Jesus," 
he  says,  "  who  has  fitted  up  a  place  for  itinerant  preachers 
that  they  may  turn  in  and  refresh  themselves  as  they  travel 
after  wandering  sinners  to  bring  them  to  God.  We  had  but 
little  time  to  stay  ;  however,  we  joined  in  praise  and  prayer, 
and  were  comforted  of  the  Lord.  As  our  way  lay  through 
New  Castle,  we  called  on  Mr.  Furness,  a  publican  whose  heart 
God  has  touched  and  made  him  willing  to  follow  the  friend 
of  sinners."  Concerning  this  "  iiublican,"  Lednum,  in  his 
"  History  of  the  Eise  of  Methodism  in  America,"  says : 
"  Eobert  Furness,  who  kept  a  public  house  in  New  Castle,  was 
the  first  that  received  the  preachers  and  the  preaching  into 
his  house  in  this  town.  By  joining  the  Methodists  he  lost 
his  custom,  and  as  the  Court-house,  which  was  open  for  balls, 
was  closed  against  Methodist  preachers,  they  preached  in  his 

tavern." 

Pilmoor  now  proceeded  to  Newark,  Delaware,  but  found 
"  the  town  in  confusion  on  account  of  the  fair,  so  it  Avas 
thought  advisable  not  to  preach.  However,"  he  says,  "  I  was 
glad  to  join  with  a  few  serious  people  whom  I  found  at  the 
house  where  we  put  up.  This  was  made  a  blessing  to  our 
souls.  Our  hearts  were  refreshed  in  waiting  upon  the  Lord. 
Just  as  I  was  going  down-stairs  a  gentlewoman  called  to  me, 
who  desired  to  have  some  conversation.  She  told  me  she 
had  heard  some  of  our  preachers  and  wished  to  know  what  I 
thought  of  the  doctrine  of  perfection.  I  told  her  all  the  per- 
fection I  hold  is  contained  in  those  words  of  our  Lord,  '  Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  thy  neighbor 
as  thyself.'     She  said,  *  That  is  not  an  answer  to  my  question.' 

"  '  Madam,  it  is  such  an  answer  as  I  thought  proper  to 
give,  and  I  am  sorry  if  you  do  not  understand  me.' 


PILMOOR   LABORS   FOUR  DAYS  IN  DELAWARE   IN  1771     271 


" '  Do  you  think  we  can  attain  to  that  in  this  life  ?  ' 
"  *  If  not  Jesus  Christ  has  given  us  too  hard  a  task.  But 
wise  master-builders  begin  at  the  foundation,  and  it  is  neces- 
sary to  inquire  whether  we  have  begun  there.  If  we  have, 
then  we  must  go  forward  with  the  superstructure  as  fast  as 
we  can,  and  the  sooner  the  top-stone  is  brought  forth  with 
shoutings,  crying,  "  Grace !  Grace !  '  unto  it  the  better.'  " 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  Pilmoor  "  preached  at 
Christeen  Bridge  and  was  greatly  favored  with  the  blessing  of 
God."  The  following  day,  Friday,  April  19,  1771,  he 
preached  in  the  morning  and  in  the  afternoon  and  says  :  "  The 
people  were  so  devout  I  thought  myself  well  rewarded  in 
coming  from  Philadelphia  to  visit  them.  Eode  on  to  New 
Castle  and  had  a  time  of  refreshing  in  the  evening  while  I 
preached  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord.  I  was  much  fatigued  when 
I  began,  but  the  happiness  I  felt  in  my  mind  soon  made  me 
forget  my  toil  and  pain."  The  next  day  he  "  expounded  part 
of  the  first  Psalm,  which  was  made  a  special  blessing  to  the 
people."  He  then  hastened  to  Wilmington  and  preached  there 
at  noon,  his  text  being,  "  Not  by  works  of  righteousness  whicli 
we  have  done,  but  according  to  His  mercy  He  saved  us,"  etc. 
He  then  went  "  pretty  swiftly  "  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  ar- 
rived about  nine  o'clock,  Saturday  evening,  April  20,  1771. 
In  this  itinerary  of  four  days  in  Delaware  he  preached  seven 

times. 

Pilmoor  preached  to  a  few  people  at  the  house  of  a  Swede 
at  Pennypack,  Pa.,  about  eight  miles  from  Philadelphia,  De- 
cember 20,  17G9.  He,  after  preaching,  formed  "a  little  so- 
ciety" at  Pennypack,  on  March  2G,  1770.  Pilmoor  preached 
"  many  times  in  the  country  as  well  as  in  the  city,"  in  the 
month  of  January,  1770.  On  the  third  of  March  in  that  year 
he  preached  at  a  place  twenty  miles  from  Philadelphia. 
Twenty  days  later,  when  he  was  about  leaving  for  his  first  ex- 
change with  Boardman,  he  asserted  that  he  had  preached  at 
many  places  adjacent  to  Philadelphia,  and  that  the  "sacred 
fire  "  was  "  kindled." 

In  the  fore  part  of  the  year  1770,  Philip  Embury,  the  Heck 
family,  and  others  removed  to  the  interior  of  New  York  prov- 


272 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


ince  and  formed  the  Ashgrove  society.  In  April,  1770,  Pil- 
moor  preached  at  Jamaica,  Long  Island,  and  in  the  course  of 
the  same  spring  and  in  early  summer  be  preached  at  Newtown, 
Harlem,  West  Chester,  and  elsewhere  in  the  province  of  New 
York.  He  says  that  on  June  15,  1770,  Eobert  Williams 
brought  good  news  "  from  the  country.  The  work  is  spread- 
ing a's  far  as  New  Eochelle,  among  some  French  Protestants." 
Pilmoor  preached  in  a  Baptist  church  at  Bordentown, 
New  Jersey,  on  July  26,  1770.  The  next  day  he  preached  in 
the  town  hall  at  Burlington  "to  a  fine  congregation."  He 
was  at  Gloucester  Court-house,  where  the  word  was  received 
"with  joy"  August  12,  1770.  He  also  preached  there  four 
weeks  later,  and  then  in  six  more  weeks  he  again  proclaimed 
the  living  word  at  Gloucester.  Thence  onward  until  he  re- 
turned to  New  York,  in  the  ensuing  November,  he  preached 
at  Pennypack,  near  Bustleton  ;  at  White  Marsh,  Pa. ;  at  Bur- 
lington, N.  J.,  and  he  was  also  at  Bordentown,  Trenton,  and 
Princeton.  At  Princeton,  Boardman  preached  the  seventh 
or  eighth  of  November,  1770,  in  the  college  chapel. 

Captain  Webb  formed  a  society  in  Burlington,  New  Jersey, 
December  14,  1770,  and  appointed  Joseph  Toy  its  leader. 
Mr.  Toy  removed  soon  after  to  Trenton,  in  the  same  prov- 
ince, where  with  three  or  four  persons,  one  of  whom  w^as  a 
man  who  had  been  a  Methodist  in  Ireland,  he  met  in  class. 
The  historian  of  Trenton  says  that  the  first  man  wlio  preached 
the  doctrines  of  Methodism  "  in  Trenton  was  Thomas  Webb. 
He  came  about  1766,  and  preached  to  the  people  in  a  stable 
near  the  corner  of  Green  and  Academy  Streets.  The  new 
doctrine  met  at  first  with  considerable  opposition,  and  those 
who  advocated  it  were  persecuted."  ^ 

Joseph  Toy,  the  leader  of  the  first  society  in  Burlington, 
was  the  first  class-leader  in  New  Jersey  of  whom  we  have 
knowledge.  Probably,  however,  there  was  one  leader,  if  not 
more,  at  Greenwich,  in  that  province,  where  Edward  Evans 
labored  and  died  before  Toy  was  appointed  leader  of  the 
Burlington  society  by  Webb.  Toy  became  a  successful  itin- 
erant preacher,  and  an  instructor  in  Cokesbury  College,  an 

*  Rauns's  History  of  Trenton,  pp.  115-116. 


PILMOOR  PREACHES   IN   WESTCHESTER  COUNTY      273 


institution  which  originated  at  the  Christmas  Conference 
that  organized  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  In  a  let- 
ter written  August  18,  1802,  to  Bishop  Whatcoat,  Bishop  As- 
bury  says  :  "  Great  times  in  Calvert ;  Brother  Toy  does  well, 
does  wonders."  Later  Asbury  made  this  record :  "  Joseph 
Toy  still  steady,  diligent,  pleased  the  people." 

Pilmoor  preached  at  New  Eochelle,  New  York,  "  to  a  fine 
congregation  "  May  29,  1771,  in  the  afternoon.  He  "  spent 
the  evening  in  company  with  several  lovers  of  Jesus,  who 
seemed  glad  of  an  opportunity  of  speaking  freely  on  the  sub- 
ject of  spiritual  religion."  The  next  day  after  preaching 
again  he  rode  to  a  small  village,  and  "preached  in  the  Hugue- 
nots' church  to  a  congregation  of  decent,  attentive  hearers." 
A  Mr.  Abraham,  "  an  old  gentleman  belonging  to  the  Church 
of  Holland,  took  me  to  his  house,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  where  I 
was  entertained  with  the  utmost  kindness  and  hospitality." 
After  preaching  the  next  day  (Friday),  May  31,  1771,  Pilmoor 
rode  to  East  Chester,  where  he  "  preached  with  much  liberty." 
Then  he  hastened  to  Kingsbridge,  dined,  "  and  reached  New 
York  just  in  time  to  preach  in  the  evening.' 

He  started  on  another  evangelical  excursion  the  following 
Monday,  June  3d,  in  very  hot  weather.  He  came  to  Cow 
Neck,  about  thirty-four  miles  from  New  York  City,  and  in  the 
afternoon  he  there  met  "  a  fine  congregation,"  to  whom  he 
*'  preached  with  power  and  the  word  seemed  to  work  effectu- 
ally." In  going  to  Newtown  the  next  day  he  missed  his  way 
in  a  forest.  AVhen  he  arrived  there  he  began  service  without 
delay,  enjoyed  a  gracious  season,  and  returned  to  the  city. 

Pilmoor  went  to  West  Chester  July  15,  1771,  and  preached 
"  to  a  small  but  genteel  congregation  "  from  the  text,  "  Blessed 
are  the  people  that  know  the  joyful  sound,"  etc.  He  rode 
with  his  "  dear  friend,  Mr.  Theodosius  Bartow,  to  East  Ches- 
ter," where  he  was  entertained  for  the  night  very  hospitably. 
In  the  morning  "  my  friend,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  accompanied 
me  to  the  town  of  East  Chester,  where  it  was  appointed  for 
me  to  preach.  As  it  was  in  the  middle  of  wheat  harvest  I 
thought  we  should  have  very  few  to  hear,  but  was  happily 
disappointed.  A  great  number  of  persons  attended  while  I 
18 


274  THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 

preached  the  Gospel  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  with 
power.  At  night  I  had  a  good  time  in  preaching  at  New  Eo- 
chelle,  and  took  up  my  abode  that  night  with  my  old  and 
valued  friend,  Mr.  Abraham." 

Pilmoor  now  rode  with  several  friends  to  Mr.  Devon's, 
where  he  preached  "the  truth  in  love."     He  preached  to  a 
noble  congregation  at  Eye,   N.   Y.,  July  18,   and  then  re- 
tuined  to  New  Eochelle  and  spent   the   evening   with  Mr. 
Drake,  a  capitahst.     Next  morning  he  was  accompanied  by 
several  friends  in  a  boat  to  Long  Island.     "  As  the  weather 
was  calm,"  he  says,  "  we  united  in  the  praises  of  Jehovah, 
and  in  about  an  hour  we  got  safely  over."     He  preached  in 
the   evening,   and  very  early  the  next  day  he  renewed  his 
journey  and  preached  at  a  place  which  he  does  not  name  at 
eight  in  the  morning.     Hastening  on  through  the  woods  he 
arrived  at  Jamaica,  where  a  number  of  New  Yorkers  had 
come  to  meet   him.      "After  dinner,"  he  says,  "we  had  a 
fine   congregation,  and  God  gave  His  word  success."     They 
"took  leave  of  the  dear,  affectionate  people  of  Jamaica,"  had 
a  most   dehghtfiil  journey  to  the  ferry,  and  he  arrived  in 
New  York  about  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  Saturday, 
July  20,  1771,  he  having  been  absent  six  days  in  this  coun- 
try itinerary,  in  which  he  must  have  travelled  more  than  a 
hundred  miles,  besides  preaching  one  or  more  sermons  every 
day.     Two  days  after  his  return  to  the  city  he  wrote  that 
"having  travelled  much  in  the  country,  exposed  to  the  sultry 
heat,  and  preached  twelve  times  in  a  few  days,  I  was  glad  of  a 
little  rest."     Yet  he  soon  set  out  for  Long  Island  again  and 
crossed  the  East  Eiver,  but  his  progress  was  arrested  by  the 
heat.    Concerning  his  failure  to  proceed,  August  5th  he  says  : 
"  After  dinner  I  crossed  the  ferry  to  Long  Island,  intending 
to  preach  at  Newtown,  but  the  heat  was  so  great  that  no  one 
would  hire  out  their  horses,  except  we  would  promise  to  pay 
for  them  if  they  died.     This  being  the  case,  I  judged  it  best 
to  return  to  the  city.     For  several  days  the  weather  contin- 
ued so  very  hot  that  it  was  difficult  to  breathe  in  the  sultry 
air,  and  those  who  were  obliged  to  be  about  their  business 
were  in  the  utmost  danger  of  losing  their  lives." 


PILMOOR  TRAVELS   AND   PREACHES   IN  NEW   JERSEY      275 

We  find  the  aggressive  itinerant  preaching  at  Gloucester, 
N.  J.,  on  Sunday,  September  8,  1771.     The  next  Sunday,  at 
Chestnut  Hill,  about  ten  miles  from  Philadelphia,  he  warned 
"  a  vast  congregation  "  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come.    After 
the  five-o'clock  preaching  in  Philadelphia,  the  first  day  of 
October,  he  "  set  off  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dove  for  Burlington," 
where  they  arrived  in  two  hours.     As  there  was  a  large  con- 
gregation assembled,  Pilmoor  hastened  to  the  Court-house 
and  preached  on  "We  know  what  we  worship."     The  fol- 
lowing day  he  was  quite  busy.     "I  preached,"  he  says,  "in 
the  [Burlington]  Court-house  at  ten,  then  went  to  dine  on  an 
Island  in  the  Delaware  with  an  Englishman,  who  has  lately 
received  an  earnest  desire  to  save  his  soul.     We  had  much 
profitable  conversation,  and  were  very  much  blessed  in  sing- 
ing and  prayer.     Having  a  desire  to  try  Bristol,  a  little  town 
in  Pennsylvania,  about  twenty  miles  from  the  city,  we  all 
went  over  in  a  boat  and  I  preached  in  the  Court-house,  but 
fear  my  labor  was  almost  in  vain,  for  the  Bristol  Gallios  care 
but  little  for  any  of  these  things.     The  case  was  widely  dif- 
ferent in  the  evening  while  I  preached  in  Burlington.     The 
congregation  was  so  large  that  the  house  was   exceedingly 
hoti^but  God  made  it  all  up  by  his  heavenly  presence  and 
power."     The  next  day,  having  an  appointment  to  preach  in 
Philadelphia  in  the  evening,  he  hastened  thither  "through 
the  Jerseys,  where  the  heat  of  the  weather  and  the  hot,  dry 
sands"  made  travelling  difficult.     But  his  toil  was  not  with- 
out result.     A  few  days  later  Pilmoor  was  sent  for  to  visit  a 
man  who  was  in  great  mental  distress.     "  It  seems,"  says  the 
preacher,  "  he  heard  me  preach  at  Burlington  last  week,  and 
was  so  awakened  that  he  has  had  no  rest  since." 

In  about  a  week  after  this  evangelistic  digression  in  New 
Jersey,  Pilmoor  made  another  excursion  into  Pennsylvania. 
Two  men  came  more  than  twenty  miles  to  take  him  to  the 
country,  and  he  departed  with  them  on  Friday,  October  11, 
1771.  A  considerable  rain  on  the  previous  day  had  left  the 
roads  in  bad  condition.  On  his  arrival  at  the  place,  "I 
found,"  he  says,  "  a  family  of  pious  Welsh  people  who  re- 
ceived  me  as  if  I  had  been  a  messenger  from  heaven.     After 


276 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


"5r 


dinner  we  had  a  large  congregation  of  very  genteel  people. 
The  house  was  tilled  with  the  women,  and  all  the  men  stood 
without  waiting  with  the  greatest  attention  while  I  declared 
'  the  Grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.'  After  preaching  I  had 
some  conversation  with  a  Baptist  minister  who  had  been  one 
of  my  hearers.  He  thought  well  of  my  sermon,  only  he 
thought  I  had  extended  the  Gospel  too  far.  How  wonderful 
that  a  minister  of  Christ  should  blame  me  for  preaching  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature."  The  proclamation  of  free  and  im- 
partial grace  by  the  Wesleyan  preachers  proved  a  formidable 
hindrance  to  the  advance  of  Calvinism.  Pilmoor  continued 
to  dwell  upon  the  pleasing  theme  on  which  he  had  preached, 
for,  he  says,  when  the  minister  had  gone  "  I  had  much 
conversation  with  the  family  and  several  of  their  select 
friends  about  the  willingness  of  Jesus  to  save."  The  next 
day  he  went  to  Methacton,  and  as  the  chapel  would  not 
nearly  contain  the  congregation  he  preached  in  the  wood. 

The  next  day,  Sunday,  October  13, 1771,  Pilmoor  preached 
in  a  grove  at  Chestnut  Hill,  and  he  had  reason  to  believe 
that  the  Word  fell  with  saving  effect  upon  many  of  the 
people.  Two  days  later,  as  we  shall  see,  he  preached  the 
funeral  sermon  of  Edward  Evans  in  the  chapel  at  Greenwich, 
N.  J.,  where  Evans  had  ministered.  He  performed  that  ser- 
vice at  the  request  of  "  the  heads  of  the  congregation "  of 

Greenwich. 

From  Pilmoor's  narrative  it  appears  that  Evans  became 
identified  with  the  Methodists  about  the  time  Pilmoor  and 
Boardman  came.  He  preached  the  Wesleyan  doctrines  in  New 
Jersey  as  early,  probably,  as  the  year  1770.  He  became  the 
minister  of  the  church  at  Greenwich  several  months  before  his 
lamented  death.  The  following  obituary  record  concerning 
this  saintly  preacher  was  made  by  Pilmoor  in  October,  1771 : 
"Immediately  upon  my  arrival  at  home,  my  housekeeper 
told  me  of  the  death  of  my  ever  dear  and  venerable  friend, 
Mr.  Edward  Evans.  He  was  savingly  converted  to  God 
about  thirty  years  ago,  under  the  ministry  of  that  precious 
man  of  God,  Mr.  Whitefield,  and  has  maintained  an  unspotted 
character  from  the  beginning.     When  Providence  brought 


DEATH   OF   FIRST   AMERICAN   METHODIST   PREACHER     277 

Mr.  Boardman  and  me  to  America,  he  united  with  us  most 
heartily,  and  was  made  a  most  useful  instrument  among  us. 
As  he  frequently  went  into  the  Jerseys  to  preach,  the  people 
were  exceedingly  fond  of  him,  built  a  pretty  chapel,  and  in- 
sisted upon  having  him  for  their  minister.  After  he  had 
been  with  them  a  few  months  he  took  the  fall  fever,  which 
soon  brought  him  to  his  grave.  As  he  lived,  so  he  died,  full 
of  faith  and  full  of  obedient  love.'* 

The  day  before  that  on  which  Pilmoor  preached  Mr. 
Evans's  funeral  sermon  at  Greenwich,  he  preached  a  discourse 
in  Philadelphia  with  reference  to  the  sorrowful  event  of  his 
departure.  "  Monday,  October  14,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  we  had 
a  crowded  church  to  hear  the  funeral  sermon,  which  I 
preached  from  the  text,  '  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in 
the  Lord.'  The  people  were  deeply  affected  and  seemed  as 
it*  they  were  determined  to  follow  the  example  of  Edward 
Evans  as  he  followed  Christ,  that  they  might  die  in  the  Lord 

like  him." 

From  the  several  references  to  Mr.  Evans  and  his  min- 
istry in  Pilmoor's  Journal,  it  is  clear  that  he  was  the  pos- 
sessor of  a  devout  and  loving  spirit,  a  good  preacher,  a  friend 
and  useful  coadjutor  of  the  first  Wesleyan  missionaries  in 
this  country,  and  the  devoted  and  beloved  pastor  of  the  first 
Methodist  society  that  worshipped  in  a  meeting-house  in 
New  Jersey.  His  name  repeatedly  appears  in  our  narrative 
in  connection  with  his  labors.  He  preached  on  several  occa- 
sions in  Philadelphia,  as  we  have  seen,  and  was  highly  es- 
teemed as  a  minister  of  Christ.  Though  hitherto  unknown 
to  the  great  Methodist  Church  of  America,  he  will  henceforth 
receive  recognition  as  a  blameless  and  interesting  character, 
and  especially  as  the  first  American  Methodist  preacher. 

It  appears  that  the  title  of  the  Greenwich  chapel  was  not 
vested  in  any  denomination.  We  learn  from  the  researches 
of  the  late  Bev.  Garner  B.  Snyder,  of  New  Jersey,  that  this 
chapel  was  located  at  Berkley,  near  the  present  village  of 
Clarksboro,  and  that  it  was  called  Greenwich  after  the  name 
of  the  township.  The  chapel,  says  Mr.  Snyder,  "  was  in 
charge  of  seven  managers,  who  met  June  30,  1774,  and  de- 


278 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


cided  that,"  as  it  appeared  to  them,  " '  it  would  be  for  the 
advantage  of  religion  and  piety  that  the  said  Church  be  the 
property  of  some  one  denomination  or  sect  of  Christians, 
and  as  it  appears  from  the  subscription  paper  that  by  far  the 
greater  part  of  the  money  laid  out  on  the  building  was  given 
by  members  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  still  desire  that 
this  may  be  an  established  Church,  we  therefore  agree  that  it 
shall  be  so.'  This  action  evidently  was  resisted,  and  to  calm 
the  troubled  waters  a  committee  was  appointed  to  decide 
who  should  be  admitted  to  and  who  excluded  from  the  pul- 
pit. It  was  also  decided  that  the  money  paid  should  be  re- 
funded to  such  as  claimed  to  be  dissatisfied.  But  too  many 
were  dissatisfied,  and  this  offer  was  modified  so  as  to  mean 
anyone  who  would  say  he  did  not  give  it  for  the  Church  of 
England,  but  for  a  Methodist  meeting-house.  September  13, 
1774,  Thomas  Kankin,  then  General  Assistant,  and  other 
prominent  Methodists  met  the  managers,  and  it  was  finally 
agreed  that  the  regulation  made  by  the  managers  shall  be 
observed  by  each  party." 

Of  the  seven  managers  of  the  chapel  two  were  Methodists. 
"  The  two  Methodist  managers,"  says  Mr.  Snyder,  "  soon 
withdrew  from  the  board,  and  the  fact  that  it  was  decided 
that  there  should  be  no  private  meetings  for  divine  service 
held  in  said  church  implies  the  existence  of  a  class,  and 
the  purpose  to  prevent  the  continuance  of  its  meetings  in  the 
church.  The  society  being  thus  driven  out  soon  erected  a 
small  frame  building  near  by,  which  after  a  few  years  was 
moved  to  Clonmell,  near  Gibbstown,  where  it  remained  a 
place  of  worship  for  many  years,  the  site  of  which  is  yet 
marked  by  an  old  deserted  graveyard."  Mr.  Snyder  derived 
nearly  all  of  the  above  facts  from  the  Eegister  of  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Clarksboro,  N.  J.,  "  the  successor  of  the  Greenwich 
Church."  Such  was  the  history  of  the  first  preaching-house 
of  the  Methodists  in  New  Jersey. 

We  have  now  seen  in  some  degree  the  outspread  of 
Methodism  in  America  prior  to  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Asbury. 
From  lack  of  data  we  are  not  able  to  perceive  all  that  was 
done  by  Williams  and  King  in  different  parts  of  the  country 


ITINERANCY   OF   BOARDMAN   AND   PILMOOR 


279 


in  the  same  period,  yet  we  have  seen  them  sufficiently  in 
their  travels  and  ministry  to  know  that  they  scattered  the 
seed  of  the  kingdom  widely  and  effectually  in  America,  be- 
fore Asbury  crossed  the  Atlantic.  Furthermore,  it  is  alto- 
gether probable  that  Boardman's  labors  in  America  in  the 
two  years  preceding  the  coming  of  Asbury  were  not  wholly 
confined  to  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  but  that,  like  Pil- 
moor,  he,  as  he  had  opportunity,  went  forth  into  the  high- 
ways of  the  country  to  spread  the  good  tidings.  We  have  in 
Pilmoor's  narrative  evidence  that  Boardman  insisted  upon 
maintaining  the  itinerancy  with  respect  to  frequent  ex- 
changes, for  Pilmoor  at  times  removed  from  one  city  to  the 
other  when  he  desired  to  remain  longer.  But  Boardman 
tvould  change  three  or  four  times  a  year.  Therefore  it  is  fair 
to  conclude  that  with  such  views  of  the  itinerancy.  Board- 
man's  voice  was  heard  in  the  country  regions  from  time  to 
time.  We  have  in  this  chapter  proof  of  Pilmoor's  activity  in 
country  itineraries  from  the  beginning  of  the  year  1770  until 
he  met  and  welcomed  Asbury  upon  his  arrival  in  America  at 
Philadelphia.  So  far  as  Pilmoor  was  concerned,  at  any  rate, 
the  record  of  his  itinerant  work  in  different  parts  of  the  land, 
before  Asbury  arrived,  which  has  just  been  brought  under 
review,  sufiiciently  corrects  the  assumption  that  he  seldom 
preached  to  rural  communities,  and  that  it  was  Asbury's 
oftice  to  thrust  his  predecessors  in  the  American  field  out 
of  the  cities  into  the  country.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
the  more  extensive  travels  of  Pilmoor  and  Boardman,  after 
Asbury  came,  were  undertaken  at  his  instance,  but  as  we 
shall  quickly  see  there  is  evidence  to  the  contrary.  The  re- 
inforcement of  the  work  by  two  additional  missionaries  gave 
to  those  already  here  more  time  to  labor  in  the  country,  an 
opportunity  which  they  well  improved. 


• 


-■*«J 


CHAPTEK  XIII. 

THE  ARRIVAL   OF    FRANCIS   ASBURY. 

An  almost  epochal  event  in  American  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory occurred  October  27,  1771.  On  that  day  there  appeared 
in  Philadelphia,  fresh  from  England,  a  young  Wesleyan 
preacher,  who  was  destined  to  become  the  leader  of  Method- 
ism in  the  New  World ;  who  was  to  be  identified  fully  with 
it  throughout  his  life,  and  who  was  to  guide  and  impel  it 
with  such  skilful  and  forceful  generalship  as  should  in- 
sure its  outspread  over  the  American  Republic  and  much 
of  Canada;  and  who,  in  securing  to  it  a  singularly  com- 
pact and  powerful  organization,  was  to  render  it  one  of 
the  most  aggressive  and  victorious  evangelical  forces  of 
Christendom.  Francis  Asbury  was  not  in  every  particu- 
lar always  the  ideal  man,  informed  at  all  times  with  the 
highest  wisdom,  and  totally  free  from  self-intmsion ;  yet, 
undoubtedly,  he  was  one  of  the  saintliest  and  mightiest  re- 
ligious propagandists  of  his  time  in  this  country,  and  of 
greater  value  to  it  than  its  wealthiest  city  or  its  richest 
mine  of  gold.  While  as  a  historian  I  shall  not  be  able  in 
every  instance  to  accord  praise  to  his  acts  and  words,  never- 
theless the  tnitli  of  history  will  compel  me  to  claim  for  him 
one  of  the  highest  niches,  if  not  the  highest,  in  the  temple  of 
American  Christianity. 

Asbury  himself  sketched  the  prominent  events  of  his 
early  history.  Of  his  birth  he  says:  *'I  was  born  in  Old 
England,  near  the  foot  of  Hampstead  Bridge,  about  four 
miles  from  Birmingham  in  Staffordshire,  and  according  to 
the  best  of  my  after  knowledge,  on  the  20th  or  21st  day  of 
August,  1745."  He  was  the  only  son  of  his  parents,  and  his 
father  desired  him  to  remain  in  school,  "  he  cared  not  how 


ASBURY's   conversion  and   ministry   in   ENGLAND     281 

long  "  ;  but  the  beatings  he  received  aroused  in  the  boy  "  such 
horrible  dread  "  of  the  pedagogue  as  caused  him  to  prefer 
anything  to  school.  He  was  religiously  impressed  in  child- 
hood and  says  that  he  "  felt  something  of  God  as  early  as  the 
age  of  seven."  When  about  fifteen,  "  the  Word  of  God,"  he 
writes,  "  made  deep  impression  upon  my  heart,  which 
brought  me  to  Jesus  Christ,  who  graciously  justified  my 
guilty  soul  through  faith  in  his  precious  blood.  About  six- 
teen I  experienced  a  marvellous  display  of  the  Grace  of  God, 
which  some  might  think  was  full  sanctification,  and,  indeed, 
I  was  very  happy,  though  in  an  ungodly  family.  At  about 
seventeen  I  began  to  hold  some  public  meetings,  and  be- 
tween seventeen  and  eighteen  began  to  exhort  and  to  preach. 
At  twenty-one  I  travelled  much,  and  in  the  beginning  of  my 
twenty-second  year  I  travelled  altogether.  I  was  nine 
months  in  Staffordshire  and  adjoining  shires,  two  years  in 
Bedfordshire  circuit,  and  two  in  Salisbury  circuit."  * 

For  six  months  anterior  to  the  session  of  the  English 
Conference,  in  August,  1771,  Asbui-y  had  "  strong  intimations" 
within  him  that  he  should  go  to  America.  He  took  it  to 
the  Lord,  "  and  at  the  Conference,  when  it  was  proposed  that 
some  preachers  should  go  over  to  the  American  continent," 
he  says,  "  I  spoke  my  mind  and  made  an  offer  of  myself.  I 
was  accepted  by  Mr.^  Wesley  and  others,  who  judged  I  had  a 
call."t  From  the  Conference  Asbury  went  to  see  his  par- 
ents, and  as  gently  as  possible  he  informed  them  of  his  de- 
sign.' They  sorrowfully  acquiesced.  His  father,  whom  he 
seldom,  if  ever,  saw  weep  until  this  crisis,  "  was  overwhelmed 
with  tears,  with  grief.  He  cried  out,  '  I  shall  never  see  him 
again,'  "  a  prophecy  which  proved  true.  "  My  mother,"  says 
Asbury,  "  was  one  of  the  tenderest  parents  in  the  world,  but 
I  believe  she  was  blessed  with  Divine  assistance  to  part  with 
me."  The  wrench  sustained  by  his  own  heart  in  leaving  his 
parents— their  only  living  child— to  see  them  no  more  in  life, 
he,  nearly  thirty  years  afterward,  adverted  to  as  "  a  wounded 
memory." 

*  Asbury's  Journal,  Vol  I ,  pp.  120-123,  and  Vol.  II.,  p.  257. 
t  Ibid.,  Vol  I.,  p.  11. 


282 


THE   WESLEYAIS^   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


ASBURY'S   first   SERMON   IN   AMERICA 


283 


His  mother  was  a  woman  of  exalted  character  though  in 
humble  life.  Her  son  said  of  her,  that  "  for  fifty  years  her 
hands,  her  house,  and  her  heart  were  open  to  receive  the 
people  of  God  and  ministers  of  Christ,  and  thus  a  lamp  was 
lighted  up  in  a  dark  place  called  Great  Barre,  in  Great  Brit- 
She  was  an  afflicted  yet  most  active  woman,  of  quick 


am. 


bodily  powers  and  masculine  understanding;  nevertheless, 
*  so  kindly  were  the  elements  mixed  in  her,'  that  her  strong 
mind  quickly  felt  the  subduing  influences  of  that  Christian 
sympathy  which  '  weeps  with  those  who  weep.'  As  a  woman 
and  a  wife  she  was  modest,  blameless.  As  a  mother  (above 
all  the  women  in  the  world  would  I  claim  her  for  my  own), 
ardently  affectionate.  As  a  mother  in  Israel,  few  of  her  sex 
have  done  more  by  a  holy  walk  to  live,  and  by  personal  labor 
to  support  the  Gospel  and  to  wash  the  Saint's  feet.  As  a 
friend  she  was  geuerous,  true,  and  constant."  Mrs.  Asbury's 
Christian  name  was  Elizabeth.  She  died  full  of  years  and 
virtues,  January  6,  1802,  having  attained  to  the  great  age  of 
eighty-six  or  eighty-seven. 

Asbury  says  of  his  father  that  had  he  been  as  saving  as 
he  was  laborious  he  might  have  been  wealthy.  He  was  em- 
ployed as  farmer  aud  gardener  to  two  wealthy  families."^  For 
about  thirty-nine  years  he  had  the  Gospel  preached  in  his 
house.     In  1798  "  he  died  happy." 

Hi  chard  Wright  was  appointed  to  America  also  and 
awaited  Asbury  at  Bristol.  On  September  4,  1771,  they 
sailed  from  a  port  near  that  city.  Their  voyage  did  not  end 
until  the  twenty-seventh  of  the  following  month,  when  they 
entered  Philadelphia.  It  Avas  the  Sabbath  and  Pilmoor  says : 
"  We  had  a  time  of  love  in  the  morning.  In  the  afternoon, 
Messrs.  Asbury  and  Wright  arrived  from  England  to  help  us 
in  the  gi-eat  work  of  the  Lord.  AYe  had  long  prayed  for  and 
expected  them,  and  now  I  trust  the  Lord  will  be  with  them, 
and  make  his  face  to  shine  on  all  their  labors."     They  were 

*  Francis  Asbury  was  apprenticed  when  about  thirteen,  and  served  at  his  calling 
about  six  and  a  half  years.  The  Rev,  Alexander  McCaine  was  a  travelling  compan- 
ion of  Bishop  Asbury,  and  McCaine  in  his  Organization  and  Early  History  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  p.  113,  asserts  that  Asbury  "  went  to  learn  the  trade 
of  a  button  maker." 


kindly  entertained  at  the  house  of  Francis  Harris,  "who 
brought  us  to  a  large  Church,"  says  Asbury,  "  where  we  met 
with  a  considerable  congregation.  Brother  Pilmoor  preached. 
The  people  looked  on  us  with  pleasure,  bidding  us  welcome 
with  fervent  affection,  and  receiving  us  as  angels  of  God."  He 
adds :  "  I  feel  that  God  is  here  and  find  plenty  of  all  we  need." 

This  was  quite  different  from  the  entrance  of  Pilmoor  and 
Boardman  into  Philadelphia  two  years  previously.  They 
walked  the  streets  of  the  strange  city  not  knowiug  there  were 
Methodists  there,  and  intended  to  proceed  to  New  York  to 
find  their  work  and  receive  their  welcome,  when  they  were  ac- 
costed by  and  taken  to  the  house  of  an  Irish  AVesleyan,  who 
had  seen  Boardman  in  Ireland.  Contrasting  their  own  arrival 
with  that  of  Asbury  and  Wright,  Pilmoor  remarked:  "When 
Mr.  Boardman  and  I  arrived  here  we  had  but  few  to  take 
notice  of  us  or  show  us  any  kindness.  Now  there  are  many 
hundreds  in  Philadelphia  who  wish  us  success  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord."  Pilmoor  was  very  fraternal  toward  the  new  mis- 
sionaries, and  on  the  day  following  their  arrival  he  says  he 
"  spent  a  great  part  of  the  day  in  introducing  the  preachers 
to  all  my  particular  friends  in  the  city,  and  rejoice  to  see  them 
so  well  received." 

The  second  evening  after  his  arrival  Asbury  opened  his 
ministry  in  America  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  This  his- 
torical fact  is  not  mentioned  in  his  journal,  nor  does  he  give 
any  information  concerning  his  movements  during  his  first 
week  in  this  country.  This  lack,  however,  is  supplied  some- 
what by  Pilmoor  who  on  October  28,  1771,  says  :  "  We  had  a 
fine  congregation  to  hear  Mr.  Asbury.  He  preached  with  a 
degree  of  freedom  and  the  word  seemed  to  be  attended  with 

life." 

The  second  day  after  his  arrival  in  Philadelphia,  Asbury 
accompanied  Pilmoor  to  the  only  chapel  which  the  Metho- 
dists then  occupied  in  New  Jersey,  the  society  at  which  were 
in  grief  for  the  death  of  Mr.  Evans.  On  that  occasion,  Octo- 
ber 29,  1771,  Pilmoor  says  :  "  Mr.  Asbury  went  with  me  to 
Grinage  [Greenwich]  chapel,  where  I  preached  to  a  fine  at- 
tentive audience  on  the  barren  fig-tree.     The  poor,  distressed 


284 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


people  seemed  to  receive  the  word  with  gladness  and  thought 
themselves  much  obliged  by  the  visit  we  paid  them.  After 
preaching  I  called  upon  my  dear  friend,  Mrs.  Evans,  whom  I 
found  much  better.  The  Lord  has  wonderfully  supported  her 
under  the  sharp  trial  of  losing  her  beloved  husband."  Of 
the  desire  to  hear  Methodist  preaching  in  that  early  day,  an 
example  was  furnished  by  a  woman  whom  the  two  preachers 
overtook  while  on  their  way  back  from  Greenwich.  She  "  had 
walked  fourteen  miles  that  morning  with  her  child  in  her 
arms  to  hear  the  sermon,  and  was  to  return  that  night." 

Eichard  Wright  preached  in  Philadelphia  on  the  first 
Sunday  morning  after  his  arrival  with  Asbury.  "  The  people 
seemed  to  be  pretty  well  satisfied  with  his  matter,"  says  Pil- 
and  as  to  his  manner  he  will  easily  improve."     The 


moor. 


next  night,  November  4,  1771,  the  preachers  held  a  watch 
meeting.  In  the  primitive  period  of  Methodism  this  special 
service  was  observed  not  only  on  the  last  night  of  a  year,  but 
on  other  nights  also.  Pilmoor  preached  at  five  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  at  eight  in  the  evening  he  opened  the  watch  meet- 
ing with  a  sermon.  Asbury  says  "  the  people  attended  with 
great  seriousness."  Asbury  and  "Wright  "  exhorted,"  says 
Pilmoor,  "  and  we  continued  in  prayer  and  praise  until  mid- 
night." "  "Very  few  people  left  the  room,"  Asbury  says,  "  till 
the  conclusion ;  toward  the  end  a  plain  man  spoke  who  came 
out  of  the  country,  and  his  words  went  with  great  power  to 
the  souls  of  the  people."  The  next  evening  Asbury  preached 
and  he  says  :  "  This  also  was  a  night  of  power  to  my  own 
and  many  other  souls." 

Asbury  departed  for  New  York  to  join  Boardman  on  the 
sixth  of  November,  1771 ;  Asbury  says  he  left  Philadelphia  on 
the  seventh,  but  it  is  apparent  from  the  context  in  his  Journal 
that  this  date  was  not  accurate.  For  some  ensuing  days  his 
dates  are  one  day  in  advance  of  the  time.  Pilmoor's  dates  at 
that  time  are  correct.  He  says,  November  6tli :  "  Mr.  Asbury 
took  the  Burlington  stage  for  New  York  to  assist  Mr.  Board- 
man,  and  I  ti-ust  he  will  be  a  special  instrument  in  the  hands 
of  God  in  turning  many  to  righteousness." 

It  was  the  privilege  of  Pilmoor  to  see  an  abundant  reali- 


ASBURY   IN   NEW   YORK 


285 


zation  of  this  devout  hope,  for  he  was  living  and  preaching  in 
Philadelphia  when  Asbury  ceased  from  his  apostolic  labors. 
From  the  day  that  he  in  that  city  welcomed  Asbury  to  the 
field  where  he  was  to  toil  and  suffer  and  die,  until  Asbury's 
ascension  to  the  heavens,  Pilmoor  was  a  witness  of  his  labo- 
rious and  wonderfully  fruitful  career. 

On  his  way  to  New  York  Asbury  preached  in  the  Court- 
house at  Burlington,  and  also  twice  in  the  house  of  Peter 
van  Pelt,  whom  he  met  on  his  journey  and  who  invited  him 
to  his  home  on  Staten  Island.  Asbury  preached  also  at  the 
house  of  a  Justice  Wright  on  the  same  Island.  He  reached 
New  York  November  11,  1771,  and  "  found  Kichard  Board- 
man  in  peace,  but  weak  in  body."  The  next  day  he  opened 
his  ministry  in  that  metropolis  by  preaching  to  a  large  con- 
gregation on  "  I  determined  to  know  nothing  among  you  save 
Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified."  He  found  the  people  "  lov- 
ing and  serious,  and  in  some  of  them  a  love  of  discipline." 
Furthermore,  he  declared  "  I  know  the  life  and  power  of  re- 
ligion is  here."  "My  friend  Boardman,"  he  says,  *'is  a 
kind,  loving,  worthy  man,  truly  amiable  and  entertaining,  and 
of  a  childlike  temper."  He  was  very  favorably  impressed 
with  what  he  saw  in  the  New  York  society.  "  I  think,"  he 
says,  "the  Americans  are  more  ready  to  receive  the  word 
than  the  English.  To  see  the  poor  negroes  so  affected  is 
pleasing ;  to  see  their  sable  countenances  in  our  solemn  as- 
semblies, and  to  hear  them  sing  with  cheerful  melody  their 
Redeemer's  praise  affected  me  much." 

Asbury,  however,  did  not  long  remain  content  with  the 
conduct  of  the  work.  Nine  days  after  he  entered  New  York, 
and  twenty-three  days  after  he  arrived  in  America,  he  wrote : 
*'  I  remain  in  New  York  though  unsatisfied  with  our  being 
both  in  town  together.  I  have  not  yet  the  thing  which  I  seek 
— a  circulation  of  the  preachers  to  avoid  partiality  and  popu- 
larity. However,  I  am  fixed  in  the  Methodist  plan,  and  do 
what  I  do  faithfully  as  to  God.  I  expect  trouble  is  at  hand. 
This  I  expected  when  I  left  England,  and  I  am  willing  to 
suffer,  yea  to  die  sooner  than  to  betray  so  good  a  cause  by 
any  means.     It  will  be  a  hard  matter  to  stand  against  all  op- 


286 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


position  as  an  iron  pillar  strong  and  steadfast  as  a  wall  of 
brass."     Why  should  this  young  man,  who  was  yet  but  a 
stranger  in  America,  have  spoken  thus?     The  preachers  who 
preceded  him  here  had  displayed  thorough  devotion  to  the 
work,  and  had  established  it  permanently  in  two  of  the  chief 
centres  of  population  and  commerce  besides  planting  it  in 
rural  places.     They  had  maintained  a  rapid  circulation  of  the 
preachers,  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  themselves  having  alter- 
nated at  short  intervals  between  Philadelphia  and  New  York. 
When  Pilmoor  greeted  and  welcomed  Asbury  in  Philadelphia, 
he  had  spent  two  and  a  half  months  of  his  fourtli  term  in 
that  city,  and  had  already  completed  three  terms  of  labor  in 
New  York.     Boardman  likewise  had  served  three  terms  in 
Philadelphia  and  had  almost  completed  three  months  of  his 
fourth  term  in  New  York,  when  Asbury  joined  him  there. 
Asbury,  on  the  contrary,  had  stayed  two  years  in  each  of  his 
last  two  circuits  in  England.     As  soon  as  Williams  was  set 
free  from  John  Street  by  Boardman's  arrival  in  New  York, 
he  started  for  Maryland,  where  he  evidently  spent  the  winter 
of  1769-70,  and  then  in  the  spring  returned  to  the  northern 
portion  of  the  field.    Early  in  the  summer  following  Williams 
again  departed  to  Maryland.     We   have   seen   how   widely 
Webb  travelled  and  preached  from  the  beginning— being  first 
in  New  York  and  Long  Island,  then  in  New  Jersey,  Philadel- 
phia, A\'ilmington,  and,  as  there  is  some  reason  to  believe,  m 
Maryland  also.      Then  we  have  seen   Kobert   Strawbridge 
away  from  his  Maryland  home,  and  as  early  as  January  14, 
1770,  preaching  in  Philadelphia.  Edward  Evans,  too,  had  itin- 
erated, and  had  left  Philadelphia  to  minister  in  a  rural  com- 
mnnity  in  New  Jersey,  where  he  died.     In  view  of  the  rapid 
movements  of  the  Wesleyan  itinerants  here  for  the  two  years 
preceding  the  coming  of  Asbury,  some  of  his  utterances  made 
almost  immediately  after  his  arrival  seem  nearly  inexplicable, 
such  for  instance  as  "I  have  not  yet  the  thing  which  I  seek— 
a  circulation  of  the  preachers." 

Only  two  days  after  he  wrote  the  above  passage,  Asbury 
lUilited  the  following  notable  paragraph  :  "  At  present  I  am 
dissatisfied.     1  judge  we  are  to  be  shut  up  in  the  cities  this 


asbury' S   ANIMADVERSIONS 


287 


winter.  My  brethren  seem  unwilling  to  leave  the  cities,  but 
I  think  I  will  show  them  the  way.  I  am  in  trouble,  and 
more  trouble  is  at  hand,  for  I  am  determined  to  make  a  stand 
against  all  partiality.  I  have  nothing  to  seek  but  the  glory 
of  God ;  nothing  to  fear  but  His  displeasure.  I  am  come 
over  with  an  upright  intention,  and  through  the  grace  of  God 
I  will  make  it  appear.  I  am  determined  that  no  man  shall 
bias  me  with  soft  words  and  fair  speeches,  nor  will  I  ever 
fear  (the  Lord  helping  me)  the  face  of  man  or  know  any  man 
after  the  flesh,  if  I  beg  my  bread  from  door  to  door." 

What  was  the .  purpose  of  such  bold,  not  to  say  defiant, 
utterances  ?  Did  Asbury  demand  that  the  cities  should  be 
abandoned  after  all  the  devoted  labor  that  had  been  bestowed 
upon  them,  and  the  flocks  that  had  been  gathered  there  be 
left  without  shepherds  ?  It  seems  scarcely  possible  that  he 
could  have  been  so  rash  as  to  propose  such  a  course.  If  the 
cities  were  to  be  adequately  cared  for,  two  men  would  be  re- 
quired for  the  service.  We  have  seen  that  large  and  deeply 
interested  congregations  had  assembled  during  the  preceding 
two  years  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and  Asbury  himself 
has  asserted  that  in  1771  (the  year  of  his  arrival)  there  were 
"  about  300  Methodists  in  New  York,  and  250  in  Philadel- 
phia." ^  Besides,  as  the  outcome  of  much  earnest  effort  and 
considerable  pecuniary  outlay,  the  young  and  struggling 
society  in  each  of  those  cities  possessed  a  house  of  worship 
and  both  structures  were  in  debt.  Could  Asbury  have  thought 
it  wise  or  even  justifiable  to  leave  those  churches,  with  their 
large  congregations  and  considerable  membership,  without 
regular  ministerial  service?  If  he  did  not  think  so,  why 
should  he  have  spoken  so  deprecatingly  about  the  unwilling- 
ness of  the  preachers  to  leave  the  cities,  and  of  his  personal 
intention  to  show  them  the  way  to  do  it  ? 

Asbury  undoubtedly  was  precipitate  in  forming  his  con- 
clusions respecting  the  conduct  of  the  work  in  America. 
"  Wait  and  see  "  is  a  good  maxim  for  a  beginner  in  any  sphere 
of  action.  Asbury 's  zeal  was  ardent,  but  in  this  instance  it 
was  not  guided  by  knowledge.     His  attachment  to  the  cause 

*See  Asbury 's  Journal,  Vol.  IIL,  p.  121. 


288 


THE    WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


he  had  come  to  serve  was  strong,  but  that  did  not  justify  his 
hasty  and  bold  assumption  of  superiority  in  wisdom  and 
authority  over  Boardman  and  Pilmoor,  who  where  his  seniors 
in  years  and  in  office  and  his  superiors  in  culture  and  knowledge 
of  the  field.  Boardman,  not  Asbury,  was  then  by  appoint- 
ment of  Mr.  Wesley  in  charge  of  the  American  work,  yet  it 
would  seem  from  these  remarkable  utterances  of  his  that 
Asbury  conceived  that  its  direction  now  largely  devolved  upon 
himself.  The  disturbance  in  both  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia, w^hich,  as  we  shall  see,  arose  soon  after  Asbury's  insist- 
ence upon  the  acceptance  of  his  ideas  respecting  the  dis- 
position of  the  work,  seems  to  indicate  that  he  proceeded  as 
if  he  were  chief  in  authority. 

The  spirit  of  rulership  which  was  thus  displayed  by  him 
was  inherent  in  the  man.     The  Kev.  Devereux  Jarratt,  rector 
of  Bath  Episcopal  parish  in  Virginia,  was  a  minister  of  posi- 
tive religious  character  and  burning  zeal,  w^ho,  as  we  shall 
soon  see,  labored  with  and  for  the  Methodists  in  that  province. 
He  was  very  friendly  with  Asbury,  who  bore  ample  testimony 
to  Jarratt's^  worth  and  usefulness,  and  preached  a  memorial 
sermon  on  Jarratt's  character  and  labors  upon  the  occasion  of 
his  death.     Jarratt  had  good  opportunity  to  know  Asbury, 
having  received  him  again  and  again  into  his  house.     He 
bore  testimony  to  Asbury's  diligence  in  labor,  but  he  dis- 
covered in  him  a  disposition  to  be  chief,  which  disposition 
we  have  just  seen  manifested  so  early  in  his  American  career. 
When  Asbury  was  close  to  his  thirty-fifth  birthday,  Jarratt, 
in  a  letter  of  the  date  of  August  2,  1780,  said  of  him  :  "  Mr. 
Asbury  is  the  most   indefatigable   man   in  his  travels   and 
variety  of  labors  of  any  I  am  acquainted  with ;  and  though 
his  strong  passion  for  superiority  and  thirst  for  domination 
may  contribute  not  a  little  to  this,  yet  I  hope  he  is  chiefly  in- 
fluenced by  more  laudable  motives."  "     This  "  strong  passion 
for  superiority  and  thirst  for  domination "  largely  explains 
some  of  his  procedures  after  he  arrived  in  America.     There 
is  no  cause  to  doubt  his  Christian  sincerity,  however,  nor  that 
his  spirit  of  generalship  which  he  so  soon  displayed  here, 

♦Jarratt's  Life,  written  by  himself  in  a  series  of  letters. 


ASBURY   IN   THE  WINTER   AND   SPRING   OF  1772 


289 


became  in  its  sanctified  exercise  a  chief  force  in  his  develop- 
ment as  one  of  the  mightiest  ecclesiastical  chieftains,  if  not, 
indeed,  the  mightiest  that  has  appeared  in  America.  In  the 
first  weeks  of  his  ministry  here,  that  spirit  was  not  suffi- 
ciently controlled  by  the  wisdom  which  guided  it  in  Asbury's 
later  life.  Thirty  years  subsequently,  just  after  he  had  held 
a  Conference  in  New  York,  Bishop  Asbury  uttered  the  fol- 
lowing words  which  are  appUcable  here  :  "  Ah !  the  half  is 
not  told  of  the  passions,  parties,  hopes,  and  fears  of  the  best 
of  men  through  ignorance  and  mistake."  '^' 

Asbury  kept  himself  in  the  cities  and  the  regions  adjacent 
for  some  time.     In  itinerating  considerably  about  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  for  several   months   after  his  arrival,  he 
labored  chiefly  in  places  where  the  ground  had  already  been 
broken  by  Webb,  Pilmoor,  and  Williams,  and  probably  also  by 
Boardman.      In  the  fall  of  1771,  and  in  the  winter  following, 
he  preached  in  West  Chester,  East  Chester,  West  Farms,  New 
Rochelle,  Rye,  Mamaroneck,  Staten  Island,  Amboy,  Spots- 
wood,  and  Burlington,  and  in  the  spring  of  1772  he  preached 
at  New  Castle,  Wilmington,  Chester,  Greenwich,  Trenton, 
etc.     In  most  of  these  places,  and  in  others  besides,  Pilmoor 
had  preached  in  advance  of  Asbury's  amval,  and  so  probably 
had  Boardman.     In  April,  1772,  Asbury  reached  Bohemia 
Manor,  in  the  northern  part  of  Maryland,  but  he  quickly 
turned  northward,  and  in  five  days  he  was  back  in  Philadel- 
phia.    While  in   Maryland   he   said,   "I  have  had  serious 
thoughts  of  going  to  Baltimore ;  but  the  distance,  which  is 
ninety  miles,  seems  too  much  at  present."     He  did  not  go  to 
Baltimore  until  he  had  been  in  America  more  than  a  year. 

Asbury  apparently  did  not  attain  to  any  notable  degree  of 
popularity  in  New  York  or  Philadelphia  at  the  beginning  of 
his  ministry  in  those  cities.  His  autograph  letters  written 
soon  after  his  coming  show,  in  comparison  with  original 
epistles  written  by  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  near  to  the  same 
time,  that  in  culture  he  was  inferior  to  his  predecessors.  He 
did  not  possess  the  eloquence  of  Pilmoor,  and  probably  he 
was  surpassed  by  Boardman  in  the  pulpit.     He,  however, 

*  Asbury's  Journal,  VoL  III,  p.  69. 
19 


290 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


was  studious,  and  increased  his  store  of  knowledge  and,  no 
doubt,  improved  his  preaching.  Mr.  Snethen  said  of  Asbury  : 
'*  When  we  deduct  the  time  taken  up  in  travelling  and  preach- 
ing and  superintending  the  general  work,  and  those  intervals 
when  acute  or  chronic  disease  disqualified  him  for  study,  we 
are  led  to  wonder  when  he  could  have  found  time  to  improve 
his  mind,  but  improve  it  he  certainly  did,  and  in  no  common 
degree."  More  than  twenty  years  after  he  began  his  American 
ministry  his  close  and  trusted  friend,  John  Dickens,  while 
defending  him  against  the  aspersions  that  had  been  cast  upon 
him  by  William  Hammett,  said :  "  If  Mr.  Asbury  sought  the 
applause  of  men,  and  was  jealous  lest  others  should  eclipse 
him  in  a  public  character,  he  never  would  have,  as  he  ofttimes 
has,  permitted  preachers  to  travel  w4th  him  for  weeks  and 
months  together,  who  have  far  exceeded  him  in  the  judgment 
of  the  populace  as  public  speakers."-^  Asbury's  greatness 
chiefly  lay  in  his  capacity  for  developing,  leading,  and  govern- 
ing the  Methodist  itinerant  forces  in  America.  His  vigorous 
intellect,  deep  devotion  to  the  cause,  and  his  unfailing  re- 
ligious ardor  and  enthusiasm  made  him  also  an  impressive 
and  a  successful  preacher,  notwithstanding  several  of  his 
early  American  co-laborers  surpassed  him  in  rhetorical  skill 
and  vocal  expression. 

The  Kev.  Nicholas  Snethen  was  one  of  Asbury's  travelling 
companions  and  was  called  his  '*  silver  trumpet."  Snethen 
preached  and  published  a  memorial  sermon  on  Bishop  Asbury 
after  his  death,  in  which  he  thus  portrayed  him  :  "  If  the 
saying  *  he  was  born  to  govern '  is  true  of  any  human  being 
it  might  be  truly  applied  to  him.  Those  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact  could  not  but  feel  the  authority  of  his  spirit.  His 
talent  was  almost  wholly  executive.  In  a  judicial  or  legis- 
lative capacity  he  seemed  not  to  excel.  It  cannot  be  con- 
cealed that  he  was  not  incapable  of  the  exercise  of  that  awful 
attribute  of  power,  hard-heartedness,  to  those  individuals, 
feelings  and  interests  which  seemed  to  oppose  the  execution 
of  public  plans.      Constantly  in  the  habit  of   making  the 

*  Friendly  Remarks  on  the  Proceedings  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hammett.  to  which 
is  annexed  a  letter  addressed  to  himself.    By  John  Dickins.     Philadelphia,  1792. 


NICHOLAS   snethen' S   SERMON   ON   ASBURY  291 

greatest  personal  sacrifices  to  the  public  good,  his  mind  would 
not  balance  between  the  obligations  of  duty  and  the  accom- 
modation or  convenience  of  others.  He  was  a  vigilant  ruler 
or  overseer.  He  neither  slumbered  nor  slept  upon  his  post. 
His  was  the  mind  to  discern  and  the  will  to  command.  As 
the  result  of  much  careful  and  even  critical  investigation  our 
judgment  is  deliberately  made  up,  and  we  do  not  hesitate  to 
declare  that  so  far  as  good  intentions,  good  motives,  and  good 
endeavors  could  make  him  such,  he  was  a  good  bishop." 

Asbury  could  not  conceal  his  constitutional  traits,  some 
of  which,  perhaps,  were  infirmities,  and  at  times  obscured  in 
a  degree  his  exalted  character.     His  love  and  practice  of 
whatsoever  things  are  pure,  true,  lovely,  and  of  good  report, 
and  his  ceaseless  devotion  to  prayer,  developed  him  into  lowly 
and  yet  lofty  saintship.     He  was  a  great  Christian.     This  was 
the  uniform  testimony  of  his  closest  intimates.     In  his  memo- 
rial sermon  on  Asbury,  preached  in  1816,  Nicholas  Snethen 
said :  ^'  Of  all  the  missionaries  Mr.  Wesley  sent  to  this  country, 
might  we  not  admit  that  the  young  Francis  Asbury  may  have 
been  the  most  ambitious  ?     What  are  the  fruits  and  effects  of 
it?     Has  it  not  enabled  him  to  bear  the  burden  and  heat  of 
the  day  ?     Has  it  not  enabled  him  to  labor  more  abundantly 
than  all  his  fellow-missionaries  ?     If  the  tree  is  to  be  known 
by  its  fruits,  or  a  principle  by  its  consequences,  may  we  not 
infer  that  an  ambition  productive  of  such  effects  could  not 
have  been  of  a  criminal  nature  ? 

"  He  was  made  good  by  the  grace  of  God.  His  religion 
was  evangelical  and  experimental.  His  repentance  was  not 
confined  to  the  practice  of  sin,  but  extended  to  the  nature  and 
principle  of  it,  which  the  pure  and  holy  law  of  God  disclosed 
to  his  view  in  his  fallen  spirit.  His  faith  was  saving;  his 
confidence  in  the  Kedeemer  of  his  soul  was  strong,  steady, 
and  unshaken.  He  was  born  of  God  and  received  the  Spirit 
of  adoption,  which  bore  witness  with  his  spirit  that  he  was  a 
child  of  God.  Grace  wrought  effectually  in  him  both  to  will 
and  to  do.  Much  of  his  clearness  of  perception  and  expres- 
sion, for  which  he  was  remarkable  on  the  subject  of  an  experi- 
mental religion,  proceeded  from  the  strong  and  distinct  con- 


292 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


sciousness  he  had  of  the  work  of  God  in  his  own  soul.  His 
experience  was  as  temperate  as  it  was  pure.  In  his  utmost 
fervor  he  showed  no  symptoms  of  wildness,  nor  flightiness  of 
imagination. 

"  He  seemed  to  know  the  first  bounds  of  religious  feeling 
and  to  possess  ability  to  keep  within  them.  Though  the  sub- 
ject of  experience  made  a  part  of  all  his  discourses,  and  he 
was  charitable  almost  to  excess  of  the  experience  of  others,  he 
rarely,  if  ever,  dwelt  upon  the  peculiar  workings  of  his  own 
heart.  Never,  perhaps,  has  religious  experience  appeared  in 
any  individual  less  liable  to  exception,  or  challenged  more 
universal  confidence.  Who  that  knew  the  man  ever  doubted 
the  reality  and  sincerity  of  his  experience  ?  He  was  morally 
good.  His  religion  was  practical ;  he  walked  worthy  of  the 
vocation  wherewith  he  was  called ;  his  conversation  was  such 
as  becometh  the  Gospel.  He  was  blameless  and  harmless  of 
the  vices  and  follies  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  He  was 
temperate  in  all  things,  in  meat,  drink,  and  apparel;  not 
greedy  of  filthy  lucre  ;  not  a  lover  of  money ;  not  a  lover  of 
this  world ;  not  proud.  In  regard  to  his  passions,  neither  his 
friends  nor  his  enemies  had  cause  for  pity  or  reproach.  There 
is  reason  to  believe  that  at  an  early  period,  like  a  man  of 
God,  he  submitted  to  the  admonition,  '  Flee  also  youthful 
lusts.'  In  manners  he  showed  an  uncorruptness,  sincerity, 
gravity ;  he  was  an  example  to  the  believers  in  word,  in  con- 
versation, in  spirit.  There  was  a  manliness  about  his  morality 
which  gave  it  a  peculiar  fitness  to  his  profession  and  station. 
Nothing  seemed  squeamish  or  sickly  in  his  w^iole  moral 
temperament.  So  strong  and  distinct  were  the  features  of  his 
moral  character  that  it  was  almost  hazardous  to  attempt  a 
description  of  them.  They  possessed  the  identity  of  the  man. 
His  practical  religion  was  like  a  luminous  path  shining 
brighter  and  brighter  unto  the  perfect  day. 

"  In  devotion  he  afi'ected  no  concealment ;  he  was  pro- 
fessedly and  habitually  devout.  In  this  part  of  his  character 
there  was  nothing  doubtful.  Devotion  raised  him  above  him- 
self and  obscured  his  infirmities.  His  prayers  on  all  occa- 
sions, in  the  estimation  of  his  friends,  exceeded  any  compo- 


NICIIOLAS   SNETHEN's   SERMON   ON    ASBURY 


293 


sitions  of  the  kind  they  had  ever  heard  or  read.  While  they 
had  aU  the  perspicuity  of  studied,  written  discourse,  they 
seemed  to  possess  the  fitness  of  inspiration  to  the  persons 
and  the  subject  for  whom  they  were  offered  up.  Those  who 
heard  him  daily  w^ere  surprised  and  delighted  with  his  seem- 
ingly inexhaustible  fund  of  devotional  matter.  It  is  difficult 
to  conceive  how  any  man  could  come  up  nearer  to  that  pre- 
cept *  Pray  without  ceasing.' 

"When  the  toilsome  season  of  the    annual  Conferences 
was  over,  and  he  entered  upon  the  daily  course  of  travelling 
and  preaching,  with  a  tolerable  state  of  health,  his  friends 
found  him  all  that  they  wished  him  to  be.     As  a  road  com- 
panion no  man  could  be  more  agreeable ;  he  was  cheerful 
almost  to  gayety ;  his  conversation  was  sprightly,  and  suffi- 
ciently seasoned  with  wit  and  anecdote.     His  manners  and 
disposition  in  every  family  were  all  suavity  and  sweetness. 
The  light  of  goodness  seemed  to  shine  around  him  ;  the  eyes 
of  all  that  saw  him  helped  him  ;  the  young  and  the  old  emu- 
lated each  other  in  showing  him  tokens  of  respect  and  love. 
These  were  seasons  sacred  to  peace  and  happiness,  to  love 
and  friendship— when  piety,  purity,  and  humility  consecrated 
the  heart  for  their  enjoyment.    It  was  on  one  of  these  pleasmg 
occasions,  at  the  house  of  one  of  the  members  of  a  family  who 
had  long  been  dear  to  him,  in  an  evening  paiiy,  that  we  recol- 
lect to  have  heard  one  of  his  most  happy  effusions  from  '  They 
shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles  ;  they  shall  run  and  not 
be  weary ;  they  shall  walk  and  not  faint.'     The  easy  and  sub- 
lime flight  of  that  majestic  bird  was  no  unfit  emblem  of  the 
operations  of  his  genius  and  piety  in  that  charming  discourse. 
''  Not  only  did  he  enliven  these  social  intercourses  with  his 
sermons,  his  prayers,  and  his  conversations,  but  with  psalms 
and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  which  his  fine  voice,  together 
with  the  grace  of  his  heart,  rendered  peculiarly  attractive. 
How  often  has  he  made  these  lines  thrill  through  our  heart : 


((  ( 


Far  above  the  glorious  ceiling 
Of  von  azure-vaulted  sky 

Jesus  sits,  his  love  revealing 
To  his  splendid  troops  on  high.' 


294 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


And  again  : 


**  *  I  cannot,  I  cannot  forbear 

These  passionate  longings  for  home ; 
O  when  will  my  spirit  be  there  ? 
O  when  will  the  messenger  come  ?  * 


"The  bishop  may  be  forgotten,  or  faintly  remembered, 
"but  evergreens  will  grow  and  bloom  perennially  around  the 
memory  of  the  man,  the  Christian,  and  the  able  minister  of 
the  New  Testament. 

"  He  was  a  good  preacher ;  he  was  a  better  preacher  than 
he  was  generally  supposed  to  be.  The  extent  of  his  pulpit 
resources  was  not  generally  known.  No  one  could  know 
them  who  was  not  in  the  habit  of  hearing  him  daily.  He 
was  master  of  the  science  of  his  profession.  He  knew  the 
original  languages  of  his  Bible.  His  mind  was  stored  with 
the  opinions  of  the  most  eminent  Biblical  critics  and  com- 
mentators. He  was  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,  a  workman 
that  needed  not  to  be  ashamed,  rightly  dividing  the  word  of 
truth.  He  was  what  is  called  an  orthodox  preacher  ;  his 
faith  in  the  divinity  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  never  wavered. 
He  held  fast  the  form  of  sound  w^ords  that  was  delivered  unto 
him.  He  was  a  practical  preacher,  never  metaphysical  or 
speculative  ;  never  wild  and  visionary ;  never  whining  and 
fastidious.  No  exception  would  be  taken  to  the  general 
purity  and  dignity  of  his  language.  His  enunciation  was  ex- 
cellent. *  The  clear  and  mellow  bass  of  his  deep  voice '  never 
failed  him.  In  this  respect  he  appeared  to  peculiar  advan- 
tage, not  only  in  the  pulpit,  but  in  the  execution  of  the  func- 
tions of  his  office.  Who  ever  heard  him  in  the  office  of 
ordination  say  '  Take  thou  authority,'  that  did  not  feel  the 
authority  of  his  voice  ? 

"  But  though  his  pulpit  exhibitions  were  the  admiration 
and  delight  of  those  who  heard  him  the  most  frequently,  yet 
it  must  be  admitted  that  he  was  not  in  general  so  edifying 
to  strangers.  This  was  owing  in  part  to  his  laconic  and  sen- 
tentious style,  and  the  frequent  concealment  of  his  method,, 
and  in  part  also  to  his  impatience  of  minuteness  and  detail, 


NICHOLAS   SNETIIEN's   DELINEATION   OF   ASBURY      295 

which  was  always  heightened  by  the  pressure  of  disease.  He 
belonged  to  that  class  of  teachers  who  are  said  to  wear  well ; 
the  oftener  they  are  heard  the  better  they  are  liked." 

Such  was  Francis  Asbury,  the  beginning  of  whose  great 
career  as  the  foremost  character  and  chieftain  of  American 
Methodism  we  have  just  contemplated.  The  delineation  of 
his  character  by  Nicholas  Snethen  is  probably  the  most 
accurate  and  just  that  has  been  drawn  by  any  pen.  Mr. 
Snethen  was  his  travelling  companion  in  the  closing  part  of 
the  eighteenth  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, when  Asbury  was  about  midway  between  fifty  and  sixty 
years  of  age,  and  thus  Snethen  had  opportunity  to  hear  him 
often,  to  converse  freely  with  him,  and  to  study  him  day  by 
day. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

FROM  ASBURY's   ARRIVAL  UNTIL  THE   DEPARTURE  OF   PILMOOR   TO 

THE   SOUTH. 

After  tlie  arrival  of  Asbury  and  Wright,  Pilmoor  con- 
tinued his  labors  in  Philadelphia  until  the  23d  of  the  ensuing 
December.      Slavery  in  the   society  was    brought  specially 
to  his  notice  after  his  Sunday  morning  sermon,  November 
10,  1771,  by  a  letter  from  a  colored  man  that  was  delivered 
to  him.     In  part  it  ran  thus  :  "  These  lines  are  to  acquaint 
you  that  my  bondage  is  such  I  cannot  possibly  attend  with 
the  rest  of  the  class  to  receive  my  ticket ;  therefore  beg  that 
you  will  send  it.     I  wanted  much  to  come  to  the  church 
at  tlie   watch-night,  but  could  not  get  leave.      But  I  bless 
God  that  I  was  greatly  favored  with  the  spirit  of  prayer,  and 
enjoyed  much  of  the  divine  presence.     I  find  the  enemy  of 
my  soul  continually  trying  to  throw  me  off  the  foundation, 
but  I  have  that  within  me  which  bids  defiance  to  his  de- 
lusive snares.     I  beg  an  interest  in  your  prayers  that  I  may 
be  able  to  bear  up  under  all  my  difficulties  with  patient  res- 
ignation to  the  will  of  God."     Only  a  few  thousand  negroes 
were  at  any  time  held  in  bondage  in  Pennsylvania.     A  con- 
siderable part  of  those  probably  were  in  Philadelphia,  whicli 
was  then  the  largest  city  on  the  continent  and  the  centre 
of  the  wealth,  commerce,  and  luxury  of  Pennsylvania.     It  is 
apparent  that,  as  was  the  case  in  New  York,  slaves  were 
included  in  the  Philadelphia  Methodist  Society  from  a  very 
early  period.     "  It  must  be  recorded  to  the  lasting  honor  of 
Pennsylvania  that  she  was  the  first  of  the  thirteen  colonies 
to  abolish  slavery.     This  was  done,  under  the  administration 
of  President  Reed,  in  1780." 

Pilmoor,  having  long  desired  to  preach  at  Germantown, 


GREAT  CONGREGATIONS  AND  POWERFUL  PREACHING       297 

rode  thither  and  preached  at  two  o'clock  on  Sunday  after- 
noon, November  10,  1771.  "A  fine  congregation  received 
the  word  as  from  the  Lord."  In  the  evening  he  preached 
*'  to  a  prodigious  crowd  "  in  Philadelphia,  when  "  our  hearts," 
he  says,  "  were  bowed  before  Jehovah  while  I  explained  and 
enforced,  '  Wherefore,  beloved,  seeing  that  ye  look  for  such 
things,  be  diligent  that  ye  may  be  found  of  him  in  peace, 
without  spot,  and  blameless.'  What  an  awful  thought  is 
this!  A  flaming  world.  Dissolving  elements.  The  Lord 
descending  from  heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the 
Archangel  and  the  trump  of  God.  Eocks  rending  !  Graves 
opening !  The  dead  rising  !  Ten  thousand  worlds  assem- 
bling before  the  Son  of  Man !  " 

This  sermon  was  not  unfruitful.     The  preacher  informs 
us  that  two  days  after  its  delivery  two  ladies  visited  him,  who 
told  him  that  they  were  educated  Koman  Catholics,  but  had 
been  greatly  alarmed  in  hearing  the  discourse.     The  follow- 
ing Sunday,  November  17th,  he  preached  in  the  city  in  the 
morning,  and  then  proceeded  to    Chestnut  Hill,  where   he 
preached  in  a  wood  "  to  a  vast  concourse  gathered  from  all 
quarters."    Pilmoor's  popularity  in  Philadelphia  was  attested 
by  the  serious  crowds  that  assembled  to  hear  him.     On  this 
same  Sunday  he  asserted  that  he  had  preached  "  many  hun- 
dreds of  sermons  in  this  city,  yet  the  people  are  as  eager  to 
hear  as  ever.     I  am  fully  assured  by  undeniable  fact  that  the 
longer  I  stay  among  them,  the  more  numerous  are  the  con- 
gregations and  the  more  deeply  serious."    He  enjoyed  preach- 
ing in  Philadelphia,  and  sometimes  felt  a  decided  repugnance 
tolbearing  himself  away.     He  did  not  believe  that  removals 
at  short  intervals  were  helpful  to  the  work,  but  on  the  con- 
trary he  says,  "  I  find  constant  changes  are  upon  the  whole 
hurtful  in  this  city  as  well  as  in  New  York."     He  and  Board- 
man   did   not   exchange    fields  after   their    arrival   for  five 
months,  but  afterward  they  exchanged  sLx  times  in  fifteen 
months  before  the  arrival  of  Asbury.     Pilmoor  spent  two 
years  in  his  last  circuit  before  he  came  over  the  Atlantic, 
and  why  such  an  extreme  form  of  the  itinerancy  should  have 
been  practised  by  him  and  Boardman  here  is  not  clearly 


298 


THE    WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


apparent.  Notwithstanding  the  frequent  removal  of  the 
preachers  from  one  city  to  the  other  their  labors  were  fruit- 
ful. Pilmoor  found,  from  numerous  conversations  with  prin- 
cipal citizens  late  in  the  fall  of  1771,  that  they  were  heartily 
friendly  to  the  Wesley  an  cause.  "They  now  believe  our 
design  is  good,"  he  says,  "  and  are  therefore  glad  to  encour- 
age us.  While  we  continue  to  walk  prudently  there  is  no 
doubt  but  that  we  shall  do  well  in  Philadelphia." 

Pilmoor  was  attentive  to  all  the  departments  of  his  charge. 
On  the  eighteenth  of  November  he  gave  the  forenoon  to  visit- 
ing the  sick,  which  he  says  "  is  very  profitable  employment 
for  a  minister  "  ;  the  same  day  he  gave  attention  to  pastoral 
discipline  by  "  examining  into  the  character  of  one  of  the 
society  who  had  been  accused  of  immorality."  His  method 
was  to  bring  " the  persons  face  to  face."  He  found  "there 
was  nothing  but  a  general  charge  without  foundation."  The 
same  day  he  admitted  two  members  into  the  society,  and  had 
the  two  Catholic  ladies  who  shortly  before  had  visited  him, 
speak  with  him  again. 

The  first  Sunday  of  December,  1771,  Pilmoor  preached  in 
Philadelphia  and  also  in  the  Lutheran  Church  at  German- 
town.  Two  days  later  he  "  dined  in  company  with  a  Lutheran 
minister  who  is  a  choice  man  of  God  and  zealous  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  true  religion  in  the  world."  Pilmoor  had  suf- 
fered "  great  anxiety  on  account  of  hearing  nothing  from  Mr. 
Boardman."  On  the  ninth  of  the  above-named  month  he 
received  a  letter  from  New  York  which  informed  him  that 
Boardman  had  decided  upon  another  exchange.  While  he 
was  rejoiced  to  hear  from  his  colleague,  he  wondered  why  he 
should  wish  to  change  in  the  winter,  although  the  previous 
winter  thev  exchantred  when  Pilmoor  had  his  hard  winter 
journey  to  Philadelphia.  Probably  he  thought  that  a  repeti- 
tion of  such  a  journey  was  not  desirable,  nor,  if  not  neces- 
sary, allowable.  "  I  submit,"  he  says,  "  and  I  hope  God  will 
give  me  patience  under  this  and  every  trial  I  meet  with  in  the 
discharge  of  my  duty."  The  next  day  Mr.  Harris  started  for 
New  York  in  a  chaise  to  convey  Boardman  to  Philadelphia. 
On  the  eighteenth  of  December  Pilmoor  saw  many  persons 


pilmoor' S  AVERSION  TO  UNNECESSARY  EXCHANGES     299 

from  the  country  who  desired  him  to  visit  them.  "The 
longer  I  stay  here,"  he  says,  "  the  more  the  w^ork  is  laid  out 
for  me.  God  is  opening  a  great  and  effectual  door  for  his 
gospel,  and  the  dear  people  in  all  parts  where  I  go  are  eagerly 
desirous  of  hearing  the  word  of  life."  Three  days  later  he 
was  visited  by  some  young  Quakers,  and  was  gratified  that 
he  had  an  opportunity  "  of  conversing  freely  with  them  of  the 
things  of  God."  Boardman  arrived  in  Philadelphia  on  the 
twenty-first  of  December,  1771,  just  before  the  hour  for 
preaching,  and,  says  Pilmoor,  "we  concluded  the  day  together 

in  peace." 

The  next  morning  (Sunday)  Pilmoor  went  to  White  Marsh 
in  disagreeable  weather  and  over  very  bad  roads,  where  he 
preached  to  a  congregation  that  fully  filled  the  church.  Ee- 
turniug  the  same  day  to  Philadelphia  he  at  six  o'clock 
preached  his  "  farewell  sermon."  He  did  not  in  this  instance 
enjoy  that  radical  form  of  itinerancy  to  w4iich  he  was  subject. 
His  removal  from  Philadelphia  when  his  usefulness  there  and 
in  the  adjacent  regions  was  so  manifest  did  not  accord  with 
his  heart  nor  his  judgment.  Of  this  he  writes,  "  The  people 
in  general  receive  my  message  as  from  God,  and  my  way  is 
perfectly  open  and  clear.  At  present  I  have  a  most  delight- 
ful prospect  of  doing  good,  not  only  in  the  city,  but  also  in 
all  the  country  roundabout,  as  the  churches  of  Episcopalians, 
Lutherans,  Swedes,  and  Presbyterians  are  open  to  me,  and 
vast  multitudes  attend  the  word  and  seem  to  embrace  it ;  yet, 
I  must  go  and  leave  them.  Mr.  Boardman  wants  to  be  here, 
and  I  must  submit.  This  is  rather  trying,  not  to  leave  this 
place,  but  to  leave  the  work  at  this  time,  when  God  is  so 
manifestly  working  by  me.  However,  it  is  not  my  doing.  I 
hope  it  will  not  be  laid  to  my  charge.  May  God  give  his 
blessing  to  my  dear  fellow  laborer,  and  crown  him  with  more 
abundant  success."  Notwithstanding  Pilmoor  did  not  always 
enjoy  Boardman's  plan  of  frequent  exchanges,  he  did  not 
refuse  compliance  when  his  superior  in  office  insisted  upon 
making  them,  and  they  preserved  throughout  their  peaceful 
and  affectionate  relations. 

Pilmoor  departed  for  New  York  December  23, 1771.    "  As 


300 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


Mr.  Boardman  was  so  urgent,"  he  says,  "  I  went  to  two  or 
three  places  to  take  leave  of  my  friends,  and  about  two 
o'clock  left  Philadelphia.  Several  of  my  select  friends  were 
a  <^ood  deal  dissatisfied  at  the  manner  in  which  I  was  hurried 
away,  and  resolved  to  accompany  me  as  far  as  Burlington. 
They  hired  a  coach,  and  Messrs.  Wallace,  Dowers,  Salter,  and 
Coates  set  off  with  me  for  Bristol,  and  we  got  to  Burlington 
just  in  time  to  preach.  The  congregation  was  large  and 
deeply  serious." 

The  farewells  were  spoken  the  next  day ;  Pilmoor's  friends 
returned  in  the  coach  to  Philadelphia,  and  he  on  a  hired  horse 
rode  forward  to  New  York.  The  frost  on  this  twenty-fourth 
of  December  was  the  sharpest  he  had  ever  known.  He 
graphically  describes  his  winter  joui'ney :  "  I  was  in  the  ut- 
most danger  of  being  frozen,  and  was  obliged  to  run  on  foot 
to  prevent  it.  And  even  then  my  fingers  would  frequently 
freeze  so  as  to  lose  all  their  sensibility.  The  only  method  in 
my  power  was  to  rub  them  upon  my  clothes  with  all  the  force 
I  had  to  bring  them  life,  and  to  prevent  losing  the  use  of  my 
hands.  As  I  wanted,  if  possible,  to  be  in  New  York  on 
Christmas  day,  I  pushed  forward  as  fast  as  I  could,  and  rode 
a  good  while  in  the  night.  As  the  road  was  very  intricate, 
and  having  no  guide,  I  lost  my  way.  After  I  had  travelled 
some  time  in  uncertainty  it  was  strongly  impressed  upon  my 
mind  to  return  to  the  place  where  the  roads  divided  and  take 
the  other  road,  which  I  did  and  pursued  it  till  it  brought  me 
to  a  house,  which  to  my  great  comfort  was  an  inn.  So  I 
took  up  my  abode  for  the  night.  After  a  little  refreshment  I 
proposed  family  prayer,  to  which  they  readily  consented,  and 
God  gave  me  uncommon  freedom  to  wrestle  with  him  for 
their  salvation." 

He  passed  a  memorable  night.  It  was  such  as  those  re- 
member who  have  gone  through  severe  winters  in  northern 
New  Jersey.  "  The  night,"  he  says,  "  was  bitter  cold.  I  was 
glad  to  have  a  very  large  fire  in  my  room ;  took  the  clothes 
off  another  bed  and  likewise  my  own  wearing  apparel  and 
spread  them  all  over  me.  Yet  it  was  with  some  difficulty  I 
weathered  out  the  nighfc." 


NEW  YORK   METHODISTS  WRITE  TO   WESLEY 


301 


Pilmoor  renewed  his  "  difficult  and  dangerous  journey  " 
the  next  day,  which  was  the  Christmas  of  1771,  and  arrived 
safe  in  New  York  about  five  o'clock.  "  This,"  he  declares, 
"  has  been  one  of  the  most  distressing  journeys  of  my  life 
on  account  of  the  cold." 

Indications  of  trouble  now  appear.  Pilmoor  wrote  the 
day  after  his  arrival  that  "  as  some  disaffected  persons  had 
insinuated  I  should  meet  with  a  cold  reception  in  New'  York, 
my  friends  made  a  point  of  showing  themselves,  so  that  I 
never  met  with  so  kind  a  reception  before."  We  get  a  further 
glimpse  of  the  rufiled  waters  on  the  last  day  of  1771.  In  the 
afternoon  Pilmoor  had  Messrs.  B.  Sause,  C.  White,  and  M. 
MoUoy  to  speak  with  him  about  certain  letters  they  had 
written  to  London  and  Dublin  concerning  Boardman  and 
himself.  "They  all  denied,"  says  Pilmoor,  that  "they  had 
written  the  words  which  Mr.  Wesley  had  transmitted  to  us. 
So  we  concluded  to  drop  the  matter  and  bury  all  past  griev- 
ances." This  episode  shows  that  the  American  Methodists 
held  intercourse  by  correspondence  with  their  great  founder. 

A  regular  watch-night  was  observed  in  New  York,  at 
which  both  Pilmoor  and  Asbury  spoke.  The  latter  had  just 
returned  from  a  preaching  tour  on  Staten  Island.  The  only 
reference  made  by  him  to  the  watch-meeting  is  in  the  follow- 
ing sentence:  "We  have  been  favored  here  with  a  very 
solemn  watch-night :  many  felt  the  power  of  God."  Pilmoor 
informs  us  that  this  watch-meeting  began  at  eight  o'clock. 
"The  Lord,"  he  says,  "enabled  me  to  speak  strong  and 
solemn  words  on  *  Thou  art  weighed  in  the  balances  and  art 
found  wanting.'  As  I  exerted  myself  rather  too  much  I  was 
very  unwell  while  Mr.  Asbury  was  speaking."  A  little  after 
eleven  o'clock  Pilmoor  again  spoke  and  they  continued  till 
midnight,  "  according  to  our  custom,  to  conclude  the  old  and 
begin  the  new  year  in  the  worship  of  God." 

Asbury  and  Pilmoor  were  in  the  city  of  New  York  on 
the  first  day  of  1772,  and  they  each  on  that  day  made  a 
diary  record.  The  records  are  somewhat  dissimilar.  Asbury 
signalized  the  new  year  by  inscribing  this  passage  in  his 
Journal :  "I  find  that  the  preachers  have  their  friends  in  the 


302 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


cities  and  care  not  to  leave  them.  There  is  a  strange  party 
spirit.  For  my  part  I  desire  to  be  faithful  to  God  and  man." 
Pilmoor  on  the  same  day  and  in  the  same  place  wrote  in  his 
Journal  these  reflections  and  aspirations :  "  I  am  now  entered 
upon  another  year.  How  swift  the  seasons  roll !  My  time 
is  short,  and  yet  how  much  remains  to  be  done !  O,  may  I 
begin  with  the  year  and  devote  every  hour  to  God  !  Let  all 
my  future  life,  O  Lord,  be  thine,  and  all  I  am  be  forever 
given  up  to  thee." 

Asbury  does  not  make  any  allusion  to  Pilmoor's  arrival  or 
work  in  New  York,  in  this  winter  time  of  1772,  except  to  re- 
mark that  he  was  ill.     With  Mr.  Sause,  Asbury  left  the  city  for 
West  Farms  on  the  third  of  January,  and  he  preached  there 
that  night.     Pilmoor  recorded  in  his  Journal  on  the  same  day 
tin's  statement:  "Mr.   Asbury  set  off  for  the  country  and  I 
resolved  to  lay  myself  out  for  the  salvation   of  the  citizens." 
That  day  "  at  twelve  o'clock,"  he  adds,  "  we  had  a  blessing 
from  God  at  the  intercession."     It  thus  appears  that   this 
meeting  was  held  at  noon  here  as  it  was  in  Europe.     A  cold 
day  was  the  first  Sunday  of  the  year  1772,  but  there  was 
warmth  in  John  Street.     "  Notwithstanding  the  cold  we  had 
a  fine  congregation  in  the  morning,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  and  our 
labor  was  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord.    At  night  we  had  a  very  full 
chapel  and  God  enabled  me  to  speak  with  power."     On  Mon- 
day he  was  eni} cloyed  in  study  in  visiting  the  people  at  their 
homes  and  in  writing  to  his  friends  in  Europe.     He  "was 
greatly  blest  in  conversation,  and  in  meditation  on  the  word 
of  God,"  the  following  day.     He  asserts  that  "  as  the  streets 
were  almost  covered  with  ice,  so  that  no  one  could  venture 
(mt  without  danger,  I  was  surprised  to  find  more  than  four 
hundred  persons  in  the  chapel  in  the  evening.     I  preached 
on  that  fine  description  of  the  Supreme  authority  of  Christ : 
'  He  hath  tlio  Key  of  David ;  he  openeth  and  no  man  shut- 
teth  ;  he  slmtteth  and  no  man  openeth.'  " 

Pilmoor  now  turned  his  face  to  the  country,  and  on 
January  8th  we  find  him  with  Henry  Newton  at  one  of  his 
former  preaching  places,  namely,  Newtown.  "  In  crossing  the 
river,"  he  says,  "  we  were  in  great  danger  from  the  ice,  but 


FROST  AND   FEKVOR  IN   NEW   YORK 


303 


we  got  safely  over,  and  about  noon  found  a  fine  company 
waiting  for  us.  I  began  immediately  and  preached  Christ 
Jesus  the  Lord.  Afterward  turned  back  and  preached  in  the 
city  at  night." 

Despite  the  rigidity  of  the  winter  the  preacher  enjoyed 
very  encouraging  tokens  in  New  York.  The  frost  on  the 
second  Sunday  of  January  "  was  so  sharp  that  it  was  very 
difficult  for  the  people  to  venture  out ;  yet,"  he  says,  "  we 
had  a  fine  congregation  both  morning  and  evening.  The 
New  Yorkers  are  so  disposed  for  hearing  the  Gospel  that  they 
easily  break  through  all  difficulties  and  flock  to  the  churches 
like  doves  to  their  windows."  The  day  afterward  he  had,  he 
tells  us,  "  a  comfortable  morning  in  my  studies.  The  rest  of 
the  day  I  spent  in  giving  advice  to  those  that  called  on  me 
for  direction,  and  visiting  the  sick."  He  was  at  a  sick- 
bed, perhaps  a  death-bed,  where  he  witnessed  the  triumph 
of  a  Christain  believer.  "  I  was  much  comforted,"  he  writes, 
"  in  being  with  one  of  the  Methodists  who  seemed  on  the 
borders  of  the  eternal  world,  but  death  has  lost  all  his  terror 
and  the  grave  its  victory."  Pilmoor  went  "  from  family  to 
family  the  ensuing  Thursday  to  spend  the  day  in  prayer  and 
praise,"  and  "  found  it  profitable."  A  day  of  delightful  re- 
freshing in  New  York  was  the  third  Sunday  of  January,  1772. 
"  My  heavenly  Master  was  with  us  this  day,"  Pilmoor  de- 
clares. "He  greatly  comforted  my  heart  in  the  morning 
preaching.  But  in  the  evening  I  had  indeed  the  Kingdom  of 
heaven  within  me.  The  chapel  was  crowded  with  attentive 
hearers.  A  solemn  awe  sat  upon  every  countenance  and 
many  besides  myself  seemed  to  feel  the  *  o'erwhelming  power 
of  saving  grace.'  In  that  blest  hour  my  wondering  soul  was 
ready  to  say  with  Peter  :  *  Lord  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  here.' " 
The  ministry  of  Pilmoor  was  attended  by  very  large  con- 
gregations in  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and  the  people 
were  not  only  interested,  but  often  deeply  moved  in  hearing 
him  preach. 

He  gladly  embraced  an  opportunity  of  preaching  in  the 
jail  on  the  first  of  Febmary.  Many  of  the  prisoners,  including 
a  young  man  under  sentence  of  death,  attended  the  service. 


304 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


"  As  these  "  says  Pilmoor, "  could  have  no  cloak  for  then'  sins, 
nor  anything  to  plead  but  guilty,  I  explained, '  Whom  God 
hath  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation  for  sin,'  etc.  The  word 
seemed  to  pierce  their  souls  and  the  citizens  who  had  been  ad- 
mitted were  Hkewise  greatly  affected.  After  preaching  I  had 
much  conversation  with  the  criminal  and  God  enabled  me  to 
plead  with  Inm  in  prayer  for  the  life  of  his  precious  soul." 

During  the  time  that  Pilmoor  was  thus  toiling  in  the  city, 
Asbury  was  continuing  his  preaching  tour  in  the  adjacent 
regions.     He  preached  at  West  Chester  to  "  only  a  few,"  and  at 
several  other  places,  including  Mamaroneck,  East  Chester, 
New  City  Island,  New  Eochelle,  and  Eye.     At  the  latter  place 
he  found  the  people  "  insensible."     They  cry,  "  The  Church ! 
the  Church ! "  he  says  ;  "  there  are  a  few  Presbyterians,  but 
they  have  suffered   their  meeting-house  to  go  to  ruin  and 
have  lost  the  power  of  religion  if  they  ever  had  it."     During 
the  latter  part  of  January  he  was  quite  ill  in  the  country, 
but  received  kind  and  thoughtful  care,  day  and  night,  from 
the  parents  and  children  of  the  family  that  entertained  him. 
He  returned  to  New  York  in  a  sleigh  the  eighth  of  February. 
He  was  yet  weak  in  body  on  the  following  Sunday,  "  but," 
he  says  "  Brother  Pilmoor  being  ill  I  preached  in  New  York 
in  the  morning  and  found  life."     Pilmoor  mentions  his  own 
illness  at  this  time   and   says  ''  the  severe  cold   I   catched 
some  time  ago  increased  upon  me  so  much  that  I  was  not 
able  to  preach.     However,  it  happened  in  a  very  good  time, 
as  Mr.  Asbury  is  just  arrived  from  the  country,  so  that  the 
congregration    will  not    be    disappointed."     Asbury   caught 
cold  walking  in  the  city  and  returned  to  his  lodgings  chilled 
and  very  ifl.     "  The  sickness  kept  me  at  home,"  he  says, 
"  above  a  week."     Pilmoor  refers  to  the  recurrence  of  the  ill- 
ness of  Asbury  thus  :  "  Mr.  Asbury  was  taken  ill  and  obliged 
to  keep  his  room.     I  felt  my  heart  affected  with  gratitude  to 
God  for  raising  me  up  in  time  to  attend  on  my  friend." 

Two  gentlemen  from  Philadelphia  arrived  on  February  fif- 
teenth who  had  come  to  New  York  to  visit  Pilmoor.  ''  They 
are  rightly  called  Philadelphians,"  he  exclaims,  "  for  they  do 
truly  abound  with  brotherly  love."     At  this  time  that  mvari- 


PILMOOR  MINISTERS   AT  AN   EXECUTION 


305 


able  accompaniment  of  a  term  of  cold  weather,  namely,  ice, 
was  in  New  York,  and  proved  an  obstacle  to  the  public  meet- 
ings. "  All  the  streets  were  like  glass,"  on  the  afternoon  of 
Febiiiary  17,  1772,  says  Pilmoor,  "  so  that  our  evening  con- 
gregation w^as  but  small.  However,  the  Lord  gave  us  his 
blessing." 

Asbury  left  the  city  on  the  twentieth  of  February,  1772, 
for  Staten  Island,  where  he  spent  a  week,  preaching  at  Van 
Pelt's,  Justice  Wright's,  and  elsewhere.  "Some,"  he  says, 
"  had  not  heard  a  sermon  for  half  a  year — such  a  famine 
there  is  of  the  word  in  these  parts,  and  a  still  greater  one  of 
the  pure  word."  During  the  week  of  xisbury's  absence  Pil- 
moor completed  his  term  in  New  York. 

He  attended  the  execution  on  the  twenty-first  of  a  pris- 
oner whom  he  had  visited.  A  large  part  of  the  population 
turned  out  to  witness  the  tragic  spectacle.  It  afforded  an  in- 
stance of  the  devotion  of  the  primitive  preachers  of  Method- 
ism to  the  work  of  saving  the  lost.  Just  before  the  doomed 
man  suffered,  "  his  answers,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  afforded  me  hope 
that  God  would  yet  appear  for  him  and  deliver  him  before 
he  left  the  body.  As  we  were  walking  down  the  stairs  together 
he  again  repeated  his  desire  to  have  me  with  him  at  the 
place  of  execution.  As  I  had  given  him  a  kind  of  condi- 
tional promise  some  time  before  I  dared  not  draw  back, 
though  I  would  gladly  have  been  excused.  When  the  cart 
came  to  the  gallows  I  stepped  up  to  him.  I  gave  out  the 
fifty-first  psalm.  The  sheriff  gave  me  liberty  to  pray. 
Above  seven  thousand  persons  stood  all  around  me.  A  great 
multitude  of  them  were  deeply  affected  wiiile  I  called  upon 
the  Lord,  and  entreated  him  to  have  mercy  upon  the  dying 
man,  and  likewise  on  all  poor  ruined  sinners.  I  then  took 
leave  of  him  and  came  down  from  the  cart." 

This  painful  service  Pilmoor  regarded  as  affecting  favor- 
ably through  its  influence  on  the  public  mind  the  interests  of 
Methodism.  **'  My  attendance  on  the  poor  man  who  died 
this  day,"  he  writes,  *'  has  been  of  infinite  service  to  the  cause 
in  which  I  am  engaged.  Many  thousands  heard  me  in  the 
fields  who  would  never  have  come  to  the  chapel,  and  were 
20 


306 


THE    WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


highly  satisfied  that  I  went  with  him  to  the  tree,  when  all 
the  ministers  in  the  city  had  forsaken  him."  The  next  Sab- 
bath after  this  distressing  episode  in  Pilmoor's  New  York 
ministry,  there  was  an  "  excellent  congregation  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  all  the  people  seemed  serious,"  he  says,  "  while  I 
exhorted  them  to  '  lay  aside  every  weight,'  etc.  In  the  even- 
ing the  chapel  could  not  contain  the  congregation.  Many 
were  obliged  to  stand  in  the  yard  while  I  preached  free  salva- 
tion to  sinners  through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb."  He  finished 
his  visitation  of  the  classes  on  that  day  and  he  had  "great 
cause  of  rejoicing  on  their  account.  There  are,"  he  declares, 
"  many  living  witnesses  of  free  salvation  in  the  society  and 
all  in  general  walk  worthy  of  their  profession."  The  work  in 
the  city  still  advanced,  and  on  Monday,  February  24,  1772, 
"I  had  many  to  speak  with  me,"  says  Pilmoor,  "about  the 
state   of   their   souls,   some   of  whom  I   admitted   into  the 

society." 

The  time  of  his  departure  to  Philadelphia  is  at  hand.  His 
term  in  New  York  at  this  time  was  scarcely  two  days  over 
two  months.  Though  reinforced  by  Asbury  and  Wright, 
Boardman  and  Pilmoor  continued  to  labor  in  the  two  cities,but 
their  exchanges  became  more  frequent.  Pilmoor  states  that 
on  the  26th  of  February  he  *'  was  busy  all  day  taking  leave 
of  my  dear  friends  and  preparing  for  my  journey  to  Philadel- 
phiii.  The  people  were  very  unwilling  to  part,  but  we  must 
submit  to  the  government  we  are  under,  and  do  all  in  our 
power  to  promote  the  work  at  large." 

He  began  his  journey  to  the  Quaker  City  with  Mr.  John 
Dowers,  the  twenty-seventh  of  February,  1772.  "  Many  of  the 
dear  New  Yorkers,"  he  says,  "  accompanied  me  to  the  water- 
side, where  we  took  the  boat  for  Amboy."  Asbury  returned 
to  the  city  the  same  day  and  says,  "I  found  brother  Pilmoor 
had  set  off  for  Philadelphia  in  the  morning." 

As  the  boat  was  approaching  the  Jersey  shore  at  Amboy, 
and  the  people  were  paying  their  fares,  there  was  one  pas- 
senger without  means  to  pay.  Pilmoor  proposed  a  collection, 
and  says,  "  We  promptly  raised  him  money  enough  to  help 
him  on  his  journey."    The  preacher  took  the  stage  early  next 


PILMOOll   AT  BURLINGTON,    NEW   JERSEY 


807 


morning,  and  after  a  ride  of  fifty  miles  he  came,  weary,  to  Bur- 
lington on  Friday  night.  There  he  remained  for  a  short  sea- 
son. He  preached  in  Burlington  on  the  parable  of  the  ten 
virgins  on  Saturday  evening,  and  on  Sunday  morning,  Marcli 
first,  in  the  same  town,  he  expounded  the  parable  of  the 
talents.  He  dined  with  Dr.  Smith,  "  where,"  he  says,  "  I  met 
with  several  pious  and  agreeable  Quakers  who  are  all  par- 
takers of  the  same  spirit,  and  know  that  Jesus  is  to  all  be- 
lievers the  centre  of  union  and  life.  Afterward  I  visited  the 
jail  and  took  some  pains  to  open  to  the  prisoners  the  plan  of 
salvation.  The  criminals  wept  much.  At  prayer  my  hesfrt 
was  greatly  enlarged.  At  night  the  court-house  was  as  full  as 
it  could  hold.  I  expounded  the  latter  part  of  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  St.  Matthew.  When  I  had  done  a  young  man  came 
to  speak  with  me,  whose  heart  was  deeply  affected  under  the 
word  and  he  wept.  I  encouraged  him  to  look  unto  the  Lord 
and  have  no  doubt  his  sorrow  will  soon  be  turned  into  joy." 

His  friend,  William  White,  drove  Pilmoor  to  Cooper's 
Ferry  the  next  afternoon,  and  on  his  arrival  at  Philadelphia 
he  found  that  Boardman  was  still  there.  Both  preachers 
continued  for  several  days  "  in  Philadelphia  and  had  plenty 

of  work." 

Captain  Webb  was  expected  at  the  morning  service  in  St. 
George's  on  Sunday,  the  eighth  of  March,  but  as  he  did  not 
arrive,  Pilmoor  preached.  He  also  preached  at  ten  o'clock 
at  the  Bettering  House  to  a  large  congregation,  "and  the 
word  of  the  Lord  was  quick  and  powerful."  "  In  the  even- 
ing," he  says,  "  our  own  church  was  as  full  as  it  could  hold, 
and  we  had  a  solemn,  refreshing  season." 

He  remained  only  twelve  days  in  Philadelphia,  when  he 
returned  to  New  York.  Why  his  stay  was  so  brief  does  not 
appear.  He  and  Boardman  had  decided  to  make  their  ex- 
tended journeys,  which  were  soon  to  begin  ;  and  it  may  have 
seemed  to  them  desirable  that  Pilmoor  should  spend  another 
season  in  New  York  before  his  departure  to  the  South. 
Within  three  weeks  after  Pilmoor  left  Philadelphia,  Asbury 
was  again  in  that  city,  and  there,  April  2,  1772,  he  received 
from  Boardman  the  information   that  he   had  planned   for 


308 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


himself  to  go  to  Boston,  Pilmoor  to  Virginia,  Wright  to 
New  York,  and  for  Asbury  to  stay  three  months  in  Phila- 
delphia. "  With  this,"  says  the  latter,  "  I  was  well  pleased." 
It  thus  appears  that  Mr.  Asbury  was  wiUing  to  labor  in  the 
city,  and  also  that  Mr.  Wright  should  do  likewise. 

There  is  a  blank  in  Asbury's  Journal  for  almost  a  month 
after  Pihnoor's  departure  from  New  York,  in  the  latter  end 
of  February,  1772.  Therefore  we  do  not  know  what  he  then 
did.  When  Pilmoor  returned  to  New  York,  on  the  17th  of 
March,  he  found  that  Asbury  had  gone  from  that  city.  We 
find  Anbury  in  tluit  month  at  South  Amboy,  New  Jersey, 
where  he  preached,  and  on  the  twenty-seventh  he  "  set  off 
on  a  rough-gaited  horse  for  Burlington."  He  preached  in 
the  court-house  in  that  town  two  days  later  to  many  hearers, 
and  the  next  day  m  a  Baptist  meeting-house  at  New  Mills 
(Pemberton).  He  returned  to  Burlington  the  following  day, 
and  the  day  next  ensuing,  April  2,  1772,  he  reached  Phila- 
delphia and  was  much  comforted  in  finding  there  Boardman 

and  Captain  Webb. 

Of  the  labors  of  Eichard  Wright  from  his  arrival  until  the 
spring  of  1772  we  know  but  little.  Robert  Williams  was  in 
Philadelphia  late  in  the  fall  of  1771,  and  AVright  left  that 
city  with  him  for  Delaware.  Pilmoor  says  that  on  November 
11th  "  Mr.  Williams  and  Mr.  Wright  set  off  for  Wilmington, 
and  I  was  left  alone  in  Philadelphia."  It  appears  from 
Asbury's  reference  to  Wright  that  he  was  ''  left  at  his  own 
discretion."  Asbury  started  for  AVilmington  in  the  following 
April,  expecting  to  find  Wright  there,  but  they  accidentally 
met  about  four  miles  from  the  town."  The  allusion  by  As- 
bury to  Bohemia  in  the  same  connection  would  indicate  that 
Wright  had  been  there  also.  Bohemia  Manor  was  in  the 
southern  part  of  Cecil  County,  Maryland,  and  it  is  said  that 
Wrii^dit  "was  very  popular  in  the  Manor  and  did  good 
work  for  Methodism.  That  marvellous  evangelist,  George 
Whitefield,liad  preceded  him  there  some  thirty  years,  and  the 
fruits  of  his  eloquent  and  unctuous  ministrations  were  seen 
in  the  heartv  welcome  extended  to  our  pioneer  preachers."  * 

*  Peninsula  Methodist  (Wilmington,  Del.),  November  15,  1890. 


PILMOOR   ON  HIS   WAY   TO   NEW   YORK 


309 


Pilmoor  *' set  off  on  horseback  in  company  with  Mr. 
Dove,"  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York,  on  Saturday,  March 
14,  1772.  It  seems  there  had  just  been  a  snow-storm,  and 
*'  as  many  people  had  been  out  in  sleighs  they  had  beaten 
down  the  road,"  so  about  five  o'clock  Pilmoor  reached  Bur- 
lington, New  Jersey,  and  at  seven  he  preached  from  the  text 
"  And  I  of  Christ."  He  preached  again  at  Burlington  the 
following  morning  (Sunday)  from  the  parable  of  the  ten 
pieces  of  silver.  Judging  it  to  be  more  blessed  to  give  than 
to  receive,  he,  instead  of  going  to  church,  preached  in  the 
jail  "  to  the  poor,  neglected  prisoners,  who,"  he  says,  "  were 
greatly  affected  under  the  word,  and  their  flowing  tears  en- 
couraged me  to  hope  that  some  of  them  may  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God.  About  noon  I  went  down  with  several  of 
the  friends  to  the  water's  side,  hoping  to  find  the  boat  for 
Bristol,  but  it  was  not  there.  However,  we  prevailed  upon 
two  young  men  to  put  us  over  upon  a  shallop.  It  was  very 
dangerous  crossing  on  account  of  the  vast  quantities  of  ice  in 
the  river,  but  Israel's  Shepherd  was  with  us  and  brought  us 
safe  to  shore."  Thence  he  proceeded  to  Trenton,  New  Jersey, 
where  he  arrived  about  five  o'clock.  "  As  they  did  not  ex- 
pect me,"  he  says,  "  we  were  obliged  to  send  a  person  round 
the  town  to  give  notice,  and  at  seven  we  had  a  very  large  con- 
gregation in  the  court-house,  and  many  were  cut  to  the  heart." 
Thus  he  passed  the  Sunday. 

He  "set  off  "for  New  Brunswick  the  next  day,  reached 
Woodbridge,  and  got  safely  to  New  York  the  day  after, 
namely,  March  17, 1772.  "  I  expected,"  he  says,  "to  find  Mr. 
Asbury  in  the  city,  but  he  had  gone  and  had  given  out  that 
there  would  be  no  preaching  before  Thursday,  but  the  people 
soon  heard  of  my  arrival  and  we  had  a  lovely  company  in  the 
evening."  Within  a  week  thereafter  he  had  a  conciliatory 
meeting  with  Eichard  Sause.  "  Former  animosities  are  fled 
away  and  pure  friendship  reigns,"  wrote  Pilmoor. 

He  now  met  in  New  York  two  men  from  the  borders  of  New 
England,  "  who,"  he  says,  "  entreated  me  to  go  to  that  country 
to  preach  the  Gospel  and  think  it  would  be  gladly  received." 
Thus  was  the  way  for  Methodism  opening  in  the  country. 


310 


THE    WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


We  have  recently  seen  evidence  of  extreme  cold  in  New 
York  in  the  winter  of  1772,  and  now  Pilmoor  remarks  an 
extraordinary  instance  of  low  temperature  there  in  the 
spring  of  that  year.  He  asserts  that  on  April  second  and 
third  "  it  was  as  cold  as  if  it  had  been  January.  The  snow 
came  down  in  such  abundance  that  it  was  with  difficulty  the 
people  could  get  out  of  their  houses,  yet  we  had  a  few  at  the 
chapel  who  are  determined  to  stop  at  nothing,  but  always  at- 
tend whenever  the  doors  are  open."  He  soon  witnessed  much 
interest  among  the  people.  As  the  spring  weather  was  pleas- 
ant, he,  on  the  eighth  of  April,  began  preaching  at  five  in 
the  morning  and  found  that  many  were  willing  to  leave  their 
bods  for  the  sake  of  hearing  the  word.  Indeed,  he  declares 
that  the  *'  citizens  of  New  York  are  never  weary  of  hearing 
the  Gospel,  and  I  believe  that  there  are  no  people  under  the 
heaven  that  understand  what  they  hear  better  than  they." 
He  had  service  in  the  morning  and  a  meeting  of  the  young 
people  at  niulit  on  Saturday,  x\pril  eleventh.  "  The  young 
people's  meeting,"  he  says,  "  was  very  refreshing."  Pilmoor 
wrote  a  letter,  the  original  draft  of  which  is  still  in  existence, 
on  Thursday  of  this  week,  to  Mary  Thorn,  of  Philadelphia. 
It  is  fnll  of  devout  sentiment.  The  indefatigable  preacher 
says  that  the  hearers  "  flocked  to  their  chapel  like  doves  to 
their  windows  on  the  Sunday  following.  Monday  we  had 
about  tiirue  hundred  hearers  at  five  o'clock,  most  of  whom 
seemed  to  worship  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  Tuesday, 
after  preaching  in  the  morning,  I  had  two  women  to  tell  me 
that  God  has  lately  spoken  peace  to  their  souls— one  of  them 
this  morning  and  the  other  a  few  days  ago." 

Williams,  who  went  from  Philadelphia  southward  in  No- 
vember, 1771,  and  who  seems  to  have  labored  during  the 
winter  in  the  South,  now  appears  again  in  the  North.  He 
reached  l^hiladelpliia  April  21,  1772,  and  two  days  later  left 
that  city  for  New  York.  He  brought  "  a  flaming  account  of 
the  work  "  in  Virginia.*  He  and  Pilmoor  are  now  together  in 
New  York  again,  and  no   doubt  his  representations  of  the 

*  Asbury's  Journal,  Vol.  I.,  p.  28.     Wakeley  erroneously  says,  in  Lost  Chapters, 
that  it  was  Wright  who  came  from  Virginia. 


TRAVELS    OF   THE   PREACHERS 


311 


southern  field  had  emboldened  Pilmoor  to  travel  thither.  It 
is  not  improbable  by  the  facts  he  brought  to  Pilmoor's  view, 
and  the  arguments  and  persuasions  he  may  from  time  to 
time  have  employed,  that  Eobert  Williams  was  instrumental 
in  securing  for  the  South  a  year  of  the  ministry  of  Joseph 
Pilmoor.  The  plan  for  Pilmoor  to  go  thither  had  been 
formed,  however,  prior  to  Williams's  present  visit  to  New 
York.  Pilmoor,  on  the  thirtieth  of  April,  said :  "  Mr.  Will- 
iams met  the  people  in  the  morning  and  I  began  to  prepare 
for  my  journey  southward."  Boardman  arrived  in  New  York 
from  Philadelphia  on  his  journey  to  New  England  on  the 
first  day  of  May,  "  and  we  were  much  comforted  together," 
says  Pilmoor.  ^ 

In  the  meantime  Asbury  had  travelled  from  Philadelphia 
to  Bohemia  Manor,  in  Maryland.  He  even  turned  his  eye 
toward  Baltimore,  but  the  distance  of  ninety  miles  deterred 
him  from  going  there,  courageous  itinerant  as  he  was.  He 
met  Richard  Wright  on  April  8,  1772,  about  four  miles  from 
Wilmington.  "  He  seemed  glad  to  see  me,"  says  Asbury,  "  and 
willing  "to  be  subject  to  order."  The  next  morning  Weight 
proceeded  to  Philadelphia.  It  was  arranged  that  he  should 
now  spend  five  months  in  Nev/  York. 

Pilmoor's  eye  was  toward  the  South.  The  distance  of 
ninety,  nay  a  thousand,  miles  in  a  strange  country  did  not  de- 
ter him  from  entering  upon  his  laborious  journey  toward  the 
Southern  provinces.  He  tells  us  that  he  "  was  totally  unac- 
quainted with  the  people,  the  road,  and  everything  else.  He 
only  knew,"  he  says,  "  that  there  were  multitudes  of  souls 
scattered  through  a  vast  extent  of  country,  and  was  willing  to 
encounter  any  difficulty  and  undergo  the  greatest  hardships, 
so  I  might  win  them  to  Christ."  The  rising  Wesleyan 
movement  in  America  is  about  to  enter  upon  another  and  a 
wider  stage  of  its  development. 

Asbury  is  now  in  Philadelphia  insisting  upon  discipline. 
He  asserts,  on  April  25th,  that  he  "preached  to  the  people  with 
some  sharpness.  In  the  evening  I  kept  the  door,"  he  adds, 
"  met  the  society  and  read  Mr.  Wesley's  epistle  to  them."  He 
intended  to  go  from  the  city  three  days  later,  but  was  unable 


312 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


to  procure  a  horse  ;  "  so,"  he  says,  "  I  stayed  and  heard  that 
many  were  offended  at  my  shutting  them  out  of  society  meet- 
ing, as  they  had  been  greatly  indulged  before.  But  this  does 
not  trouble  me.  While  I  stay  the  rules  must  be  attended  to ; 
and  i  cannot  suffer  myself  to  be  guided  by  half-hearted 
Methodists." 

Four  of  the  American  Methodist  preachers  are  now  in 
New  York,  and  on  Sunday,  the  third  of  May,  1772,  Pilmoor 
and  Boardiium,  Webb  and  Williams  Avere  together  at  the  com- 
munion at  St.  Paul's.  By  this  interesting  incident  we  are 
reminded  that  the  Methodists  of  America  at  that  time  had 
uritlier  ordination  nor  the  sacraments.  They  were  chiefly 
communicants  in  the  Church  of  England.  The  four  Wesleyan 
preachers  had  good-fellowship  in  New  York  on  the  above 
Sunday,  of  which  Pilmoor  says  :  "  This  day  all  our  meetings, 
both  public  and  private,  were  attended  with  the  presence  and 
blessing  of  God  and  were  very  refreshing  to  our  souls." 

The  preservation  until  now  of  the  historic  cburch  where 
Boardman,  Pilmoor,  Webb,  and  Williams  in  company  received 
the  Holy  Connnunion  on  May  3, 1771,  and  in  which  President 
AVasliington  attended  worship  on  the  day  of  his  first  inaugu- 
ration in  1789,  is  one  of  the  remarkable  facts  in  the  history  of 
the  American  metropolis.  The  square  of  ground  on  which  it 
stands,  bounded  by  Broadway,  Yesey,  Fulton,  and  Church 
Streets,  is  immensely  valuable.  Y"et  neither  the  pressure  of 
commerce  nor  the  exactions  of  avarice  have  been  able  to  efface 
the  sacred  structure.  It  was  begun  in  1763  and  dedicated  in 
October,  1766.  Therefore  it  has  stood  throughout  the  whole 
period  of  the  existence  of  Methodism  in  America,  and  it  gives 
promise  of  standing  for  many  decades,  not  to  say  centuries,  if 
the  conservatism  which  has  so  long  preserved  it  shall  con- 
tinue to  bear  sway. 

Ill  u  few  days  Pilmoor  is  to  turn  his  face  toward  the 
South  and  Williams  is  to  move  in  the  same  direction. 
Boardman  is  to  begin  his  journey  to  New  England  and 
Captain  Webb  is  to  go  to  old  England  and  there  obtain  more 
laborers  for  the  American  field.  Dr.  Stevens  attributes  this 
wider  itinerancy  of  the  preachers  to  the  influence  of  Asbury, 


WHY    PILMOOR   WENT   SOUTH 


313 


and  says :  "It  was  under  the  impulse  of  Asbury 's  example 
that  Robert  Williams  now  went  to  Virginia  and  that  Pilmoor 
went  preaching  southward  as  far  as  Savannah."  And  before 
Stevens,  Dr.  Bangs  asserted  that  "  in  the  month  of  April  of 
this  year  [1772]  Mr.  Pilmoor,  following  the  example  of  Mr. 
Asbury,  travelled  South  through  Maryland  and  Virginia  as  far 
as  Norfolk."  * 

Asbury  at  this  time  had  not  given  the  preachers  any 
example  of  very  extensive  itinerating ;  nor  had  he  gone  to 
Virginia,  or  even  far  into  Maryland.  He  had  once  reached 
Bohemia  Manor,  in  the  northern  part  of  that  province,  but  he 
informs  us  that  he  did  not  go  to  Baltimore,  ninety  miles 
further,  on  account  of  the  distance.  Williams  was  quite  as 
adventurous  and  active  an  itinerant  as  Asbury,  and  he  was  in 
Virginia  before  any  dep)utation  of  Weselyan  preachers  ap- 
peared in  the  country,  he  having  landed  from  Europe  at 
Norfolli  and  immediately  opened  his  mission  there  from  the 
steps  of  a  house,  and  that  very  night  led  the  Avife  of  a  sea- 
captain  into  the  kingdom.  He  afterward  went  back  and  forth 
between  New  York  and  Maryland  before  Asbury  touched  the 
American  shore.  He  started  with  Wright  southward  from 
Philadelphia  fifteen  days  after  Asbury  and  Wright  landed 
there,  and  the  following  April  he  was  back  in  that  city,  the 
bearer  of  a  "  flaming  account  of  the  work  "  in  Virginia.  The 
extended  travels  of  Pilmoor  and  Boardman  in  1772  do  not 
seem  to  have  been  undertaken  at  Asbury's  suggestion  or  from 
the  "impulse "  of  his  "example,"  but  rather,  as  Pilmoor  says, 
because  as  there  were  preachers  to  care  for  the  cities  now, 
he  and  Boardman  decided  to  travel  abroad  that  they  might 
"  seek  the  lost  sheep  in  the  wilderness."  Captain  Webb  sailed 
for  England  about  the  time  that  Pilmoor  began  his  Southern 
journey.  He  appeared  at  the  British  Conference  which  sat 
at  Leeds  the  first  of  August,  1772,  and  pleaded  earnestly  and 
successfully  before  that  body  for  more  preachers  for  America. 

*  See  Dr.  Stevens's  Historj-  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Vol.  I.,  p.  131, 
and  Dr.  Bangs' s  do.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  73. 


THE   REV.    JAMES   CALDWELL,    ELIZABETH,    N.    J.      315 


CHAPTEK  XV. 

PILMOOR's  journey  to   MARYLAND. 

When  Jesus  sent  forth  his  twelve  apostles  he  said  unto 
them,  "As  ye  go  preach."  Thus  also  did  the  primitive 
Methodist  preachers.  Beginning  his  journey  to  the  South, 
Pilmoor  rode  forward,  preaching  as  he  went. 

He  left  New  York  on  Friday,  May  8, 1772.  "  Many  of  the 
dear  people  accompanied  me  to  the  water's  side,"  he  says, 
"  where  we  found  a  boat  ready  to  sail  for  Staten  Island.  Mr. 
Henry  Newton  and  I  went  on  board,  and  in  less  than  two 
hours  landed  safe."  Pilmoor  preached  the  same  day  on  the 
Island  at  Captain  AYright's.  He  remarks  that  "  in  the  evening 
I  walked  with  my  companion  to  view  the  beauties  of  nature." 
He  thus  depicts  wliat  he  saw^ :  "  The  orchards  are  in  full 
bloom  and  the  trees  in  the  wood  hjok  as  white  as  virgin 
snow.  The  gentle  breezes  were  laden  with  fragrance,  the 
turtle-doves  were  cooing  in  the  groves,  and  everything  con- 
spired to  inspire  us  with  gratitude  and  till  us  with  praise  to 
the  God  wlio  made  all  things  by  his  power  and  constantly 
u[)holds  all  this  beauteous  frame." 

He  preached  at  the  house  of  "  a  poor  widow,"  and  again 
at  Captain  Wright's,  and  on  Sunday,  the  tenth  of  May,  took  a 
vessel  and  went  with  "  many  friends  "  to  Elizabethtown  Point, 
where  they  arrived  just  in  time  for  church.  He  intended  to 
preach  in  the  court-house  after  the  church  service,  but  the 
Eev.  Afr  ( 'allwell  sent  some  of  his  elders  to  offer  his  church, 
wliich  Pihnoor  gladly  accepted,  and  in  it  met  a  fine  congre- 
gation, to  whom  he  preached  on  "  Them  that  honor  me  I  will 
honor."  The  minister  was  one  of  his  auditors,  and  says 
Pilmoor :  "  He  treated  me  with  the  utmost  civility,  and  in 
everything  he  behaved  like  a  disciple  of  Christ." 


The  Eev.  James  Caldwell,  to  whom  Pilmoor  here  refers, 
was  then  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Elizabeth- 
town,  now  the  city  of  Elizabeth,  and  it  is  still  one  of  the 
foremost  churches  of  that  denomination  in  New  Jersey.     He 
was   an    eloquent   preacher,    a    conspicuous   citizen,  and  an 
ardent  patriot.     "  He  was  one  of  the  first  who  embarked  in 
the  cause  of  his  country.     His  zeal,  activity,  and  unshaken 
integrity  under  every   circumstance  of   the   Revolution   are 
deeply  imprinted  on   the   minds  of  his  countrymen.     As  a 
preacher  of  the  Gospel  he  was  excelled  by  very  few  of  the 
present  age."*     Of  him  it  is  said  that  he  rarely  preached 
"  without  weeping,  and  at  times  would  melt  his  whole  audience 
to  tears.     He  was  one  day  preaching  to  the  Battalion,  the 
next  marching  with  them  to  battle,  and  the  next  administering 
the  consolations  of  the  Gospel  to  some  dying  parishioner.    His 
people  were  most  devotedly  attached  to  him  and  the  army 
adored  him."  f    Mr.  Caldwell's  Church  was  fired  by  a  Eef  ugee 
in  1780.     A  few  months  later  his  wife  was  shot  by  a  Eefugee 
through  a  "  window  of  a  room  to  which  she  had  retired  with 
her  children  for  safety  and  prayer,"  and  on  the  21th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1781,  Mr.  Caldwell  was  shot  dead  at  Elizabethtown  Point 
by  a  soldier  who  it  was  believed  was  bribed  to  assassinate  the 
devoted  pastor  and  patriot.     His  name  was  given  to,  and  is 
still   perpetuated   by,  Caldwell   Township    in  the  county  of 
Essex,  in  the  State  in  which  he  labored,  suffered,  and  died. 

On  leaving  Elizabeth,  Pilmoor  proceeded,  by  way  of 
Woodbridge  and  Princeton,  to  Trenton.  At  Trenton  he 
preached  on  May  12,  1772,  and  says  "  truly  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest  was  present  with  us." 

The  next  day  he  went  "  with  many  friends  to  Pennytown 

♦''  * 

[Pennington  ?],  about  eight  miles  off  [from  Trenton],  where," 
he  says,  "  I  preached  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  with  very 
much  freedom."  At  three  o'clock  the  same  day  he  met  "a 
fine  company  of  people  in  the  school-house  at  Somerset," 
and  in  the   evening  he  preached  at  Trenton  in  the  court- 

*  The  New  Jersey  Journal,  November  28,  1 781 . 

t  Notes,  Historical  and  Biographical,  concerning  Elizabeth-Town,  pp.  77-8.     By 
Nicholas  Murray. 


316 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


house,  "  which  was  as  full  as  it  could  hold."  This  day  he 
had  travelled  much,  besides  preaching  three  times,  and  was 
greatly  fatigued;  yet  after  publicly  preaching  he  met  the 
Trenton  Society  at  night,  "  and  the  Lord  was  so  eminently 
present,"  he  says,  "  that  we  concluded  he  had  kept  the  best 
wine  until  now.  When  w^e  rose  up  from  prayer  a  poor  negro 
woman  came  to  me  in  great  distress  of  soul  and  cast  herself 
down  at  my  feet.  T  raised  her  up  and  encouraged  her  to 
trust  in  the  Lord,  who  would  soon  have  mercy  upon  her  and 
pardon  all  her  offenses." 

Piluioor  was  still  in  Trenton  on  the  fourteenth  of  May, 
w^hen  at  the  early  hour  of  five  he  preached  to  a  great  number 
of  people.  "  About  nine  o'clock,"  he  says,  "  the  stage  came 
and  I  w^ent  forward  to  Philadelphia."  Finding  the  people 
expected  preaching,  and  no  Methodist  preacher  being  in 
town,  he  "  went  immediately  to  St.  George's,  and  w^as  w^ell 
rewarded  by  a  blessing  from  God." 

Asbury  arrived  in  Philadelphia  the  next  day.  In  the 
evening  Pilmoor  preached,  and  the  following  day  he  "  had  the 
happiness  of  visiting  several  of  the  people."  Asbury  had 
been  a  couple  of  days  in  New  Jersey,  and  among  other  places 
preached  at  what  he  calls  the  "  New  Church,"  which,  no  doubt, 
w^as  Greenwich,  and  of  which  he  says  "surely  the  power  of 
God  is  among  this  people."  Keturning,  he  speaks  of  Pil- 
moor being  in  the  city,  and  says  "  the  house  was  given  up." 
"  Thus  ended,"  says  Lednum,  "  the  first  parsonage  in  Phila- 
delphia." 

Asbury  preached  in  St.  George's  on  the  Sunday  morning 
of  May  seventh.  Pilmoor  preached  in  the  afternoon  in  a 
grove  at  Chestnut  Hill,  and  in  the  evening  in  the  city. 

The  effect  of  Asbury's  ideas  of  government,  which  he  still 
urged,  are  now  apparent.  He  seems  to  have  scattered  the 
people  considerably.  Of  the  state  of  matters  in  St.  George's, 
Pilmoor  speaks  thus :  "  O,  what  a  change !  When  I  was 
here  before  the  great  church  w^ould  hardly  hold  the  congre- 
gation ;  now  it  is  not  near  full.  Such  is  the  fatal  consequence 
of  contending  about  opinions,  and  the  administration  of  dis- 
cipline.     It  grieves  me  to  the  heart  to  see  the  people  scat 


DEPRESSION   IN   PHILADELPHIA   METHODISM 


317 


tered  that  we  have  taken  such  pains  to  gather,  but  I  cannot 
help  it  without  opposing  the  measures  of  Mr.  Wesley's  dele- 
gate, and  that  would  breed  much  confusion,  so  I  am  obliged 
to  go  weeping  away.  The  following  days  I  took  what  pains 
I  could  to  collect  the  people  together.  We  had  many  good 
opportunities,  both  in  public  and  private,  and  our  hopes  be- 
gan to  revive.  Nothing  could  hinder  our  usefulness  here  if 
we  did  but  keep  to  our  point  and  steadily  insist  upon  the 
pure  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  without  meddling  with  politics 
and  opinions." 

Concerning  this  disturbed  and  depressed  state  of  the  so- 
ciety in  Philadelphia,  it  is  noticed  that  the  same  day  that 
Pilmoor  wrote  the  above  description  thereof  Asbury  said  in 
his  Journal :  "  Some  slight  me  in  this  place  on  account  of  my 
attention  to  discipline,  and  some  drop  off." 

On  Monday,  May  25tli,  Pilmoor  spent  the  most  of  the 
day  in  visiting  the  people  and  preached  his  farewell  sermon. 
The  church  was  crowded,  and  he  preached  with  great  free- 
dom and  power.  He  felt  closely  joined  with  the  people,  and 
found  it  hard  to  part  with  them,  especially  with  those  whom, 
he  declares,  "  God  has  given  to  me  as  seals  to  my  ministry." 

The  Philadelphia  and  New  York  Methodists  had  mostly 
been  brought  into  the  Wesleyan  fellowship  by  the  ministry 
of  Pilmoor  and  Boardman.  Even  Rankin,  who  was  famous 
for  disciplinary  rigidness,  and  who  did  not  come  hither  till 
nearly  four  years  after  their  arrival,  bore  testimony  to 
the  usefulness  of  Pilmoor  here.  When  Asbury,  who  was 
younger  and  less  exjDerienced  in  ecclesiastical  government 
than  his  predecessors,  proposed  to  put  an  end  to  partiality 
for  preachers  by  getting  them  out  of  the  cities,  and  to  enforce 
his  views  of  discipline  irrespective  of  consequences,  it  is  not 
strange  that  opposition  was  aroused.  Criticism  and  irrita- 
tion followed,  and  the  effects  became  apparent  in  disaffected 
feeling  and  diminished  congregations.  These  consequences 
Pilmoor  saw,  and  they  w^ere  also  visible  to  Asbury.  On  the 
last  Sunday  of  May,  1772,  Asbury  preached  in  St.  George's, 
and  "found  that  offenses  increased.  However,"  he  declares, 
*'  I  cannot  help  it.     My  way  is  to  go  straight  forward  and 


318 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


aim  at  what  is  right."  Less  than  a  month  afterward  he,  in 
Philadelphia,  notes  that  "  Satan  strives  to  sow  discord  among 
us,  and  that  makes  me  desirous  to  leave  the  city."  About 
a  fortnight  after  this  he  remarked  the  absence  of  the  multi- 
tude from  the  preaching  in  St.  George's  thus  :  "  Our  congre- 
gations here  are  small."  The  cause  of  the  diminished  num- 
bers he  seems  to  have  well  understood,  for  he  adds :  "  They 
cannot  bear  the  discipline  and  doctrine,  but  this  does  not 
move  me." 

\\  iiile  the  immediate  effect  of  his  rigidity  respecting  dis- 
cipline apparently  was  not  good,  it  may  have  proved  bene- 
ficial in  the  end.  By  discipline  the  Methodists  in  this  coun- 
try were  welded  into  an  invincible  phalanx  which,  led  by  the 
indomitable  captain  who  so  soon  caused  his  hand  to  be  felt, 
moved  with  amazing  energy,  celerity,  and  success  over  the 
land.  The  power  of  an  army  chiefly  lies  in  its  discipline ; 
and  in  proportion  as  a  Church  is  firmly  held  in  disciplinary 
bonds  will  it  achieve  results ;  but  sternness  and  the  rod  of 
authority  need  not  and  should  not  be  exhibited  in  a  way  to 
detract  from  the  good  which  the  exercise  of  Christian  dis- 
cipline contemplates.  Asbury's  design  was  right,  but  his 
method,  no  doubt,  was  somewhat  marred  by  youthful  indis- 
cretion at  the  beginning. 

^liat  the  precise  points  of  discipline  were  as  to  the  ap- 
plication of  which  Asbury  was  so  urgent  is  not  very  clear, 
except  that  he  seems  to  have  maintained  that  the  society 
meetings  proper  should  be  kept  free  from  the  intrusion  of 
persons  who  were  not  members ;  and  possibly  also  that 
members  should  be  excluded  who,  in  his  judgment,  were 
guilty  of  too  much  worldliness.  For  example,  in  Philadel- 
phia, June  14,  1772,  he  wrote  that  he  "  was  grieved  to  see  so 
much  conformity  to  the  world  in  the  article  of  dress  among 
our  people." 

Joseph  Pilmoor  left  Philadelphia  for  the  South  on  the 
27th  of  ]M;lv,  1772.  He  had,  he  says,  "many  of  my  dear 
Philadelphians  to  take  leave  of  me,  who  were  greatly  affected 
at  the  thought  of  parting.  About  nine  o'clock  I  set  off, 
determined  to  follow  my  Lord  wherever  he  should  be  pleased 


PILMOOK   IN   READING   AND   LEBANON,    PA. 


319 


to  lead  me.  At  12  o'clock  I  reached  Upper  Dublin,  where  I 
had  appointed  to  preach.  The  people  had  prepared  a  kind 
of  scaffold  for  me  to  stand  on  and  I  found  great  liberty  while 
I  preached  the  everlasting  Gospel  and  invited  a  listening 
multitude  to  the  Lamb  of  God.  After  a  little  refreshment  I 
hastened  to  Matching  [Methacton],  where  I  preached  at  six 
o'clock.  Spent  the  evening  with  Mr.  Supplee's  family,  and 
went  to  rest  under  the  watchful  care  of  Israel's  Shepherd." 

This  first  day's  journey  with  the  i^reaching  of  two  sermons 
was  a  suitable  preface  to  the  chapters  of  Southern  Methodist 
history  which  Pilmoor  was  about  to  make.  The  second  day's 
journey  was  over  ground  partially  if  not  entirely  new  to 
him.  "We  set  forward  early,"  he  writes,  "and  travelling 
steadily  all  the  day  we  got  safe  into  Beading.  I  was  greatly 
surprised  to  find  such  a  town  above  sixty  miles  from  Phila- 
delphia. It  contains  about  400  families,  who  live  in  the 
greatest  plenty,  and  what  is  still  better,  they  are  at  unity  with 
themselves.  In  the  evening  we  had  most  of  the  genteel 
people  of  the  town  at  the  court-house,  and  God  enabled  me 
to  preach  the  Gospel,  not  in  word  only,  but  also  in  power. 
After  preaching  I  went  to  supper  with  James  Kead,  Esq.,  who 
entertained  me  and  my  friends  with  the  greatest  hospitality, 
and  we  were  abundantly  blessed  while  we  concluded  the  day 
in  praise  and  prayer." 

He  pursued  his  journey  in  company  with  some  persons 
from  Philadelphia  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  May.  About  three 
o'clock  on  that  day  they  reached  Lebanon,  Pennsylvania; 
which,  savs  Pilmoor,  "  is  situated  about  80  miles  from  the 
city  and  contains  250  inhabitants,  chiefly  Germans.  There 
are  two  churches  in  it,  one  Lutheran  and  one  Eeformed  or 
Presbyterian."  The  Presbyterian  Church  was  opened  for 
him,  and  by  the  ringing  of  the  bell  a  fine  congregation  was 
brought  out,  to  whom  he  preached  that  "men  should  repent." 
He  then  spent  the  evening  with  a  "Mr.  De  Haas  and  his 
family  in  religious  conversation,  singing,  and  prayer."  He 
appears  to  have  tarried  three  or  four  days  at  Lebanon.  While 
there  he  prayed  for  rain  and  an  abundant  shower  followed, 
which  he   accepted    as    God's   answer  to  his   prayer.     He 


320 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 

-4 


"preached  on  Sunday  twice  with  considerable  freedom  of 
mind,  and  on  Monday  night  he  had  a  good  congregation." 
Calvinists  and  Lutherans  attended,  "and  were  comforted 
tof>-ether  in  Him  who  is  the  only  Saviour  of  all  that  believe." 

He  went  through  heat  to  Lancaster  on  the  second  of  June 
over  roads  that  were  made  temporarily  worse  by  the  rain. 
"On  our  way,"  he  says,  "we  dined  at  a  little  town  called 
Mannam  [probably  Manheim],  where  a  gentleman  has  built  a 
very  large  glasshouse,  and  they  have  brought  their  manu- 
factory to  great  perfection.  The  proprietor  lives  in  a  fine 
large  house,  has  a  large  chapel  upstairs  with  pews,  pulpit, 
and  an  organ  in  it.  "We  joined  in  singing  a  hymn  and  prayer, 
and  our  heavenly  Father  gave  us  his  blessing.  In  the  after- 
noon we  rode  on  through  a  fine,  pleasant  country  to 
Lancaster."  In  the  court-house  he  preached  the  word  with 
boldness.  He  feared  Court  Avould  prevent  preaching  the 
next  day,  but  the  Court  did  not  sit  in  the  afternoon,  and  at 
MX  o'clock  he  again  preached  in  the  court-house  at  Lancaster 
to  a  small  congregation,  but  saw  "no  prospect  of  much  good." 

He  completed  his  tour  in  Pennsylvania  June  4,  1772.  The 
man  he  expected  to  guide  him  to  Maryland  did  not  appear 
and  he  resolved  "  to  set  out  alone.  On  the  way  I  called  at  a 
little  tavern  for  refreshment,"  he  says,  "and  was  told  the 
landlord  lay  at  the  point  of  death.  They  begged  I  would 
visit  him,  which  I  readily  complied  with,  but  found  him 
speechless.  However,  he  seemed  to  understand  what  I  said, 
and  was  affected  Avhen  I  commended  him  to  God  in  prayer." 
Pilmoor  then  proceeded  to  a  ferry  where  the  river  was  "  about 
a  mile  and  a  quarter  broad."  There  he  crossed  the  Susque- 
hanna, which  afterward  his  countryman,  Campbell,  celebrated 
ill  mellifluous  verse. 


CHAPTEK  XVI. 

BOARDMAN   IN   BOSTON   AND  WRIGHT   IN  NEW  YORK. 

EiCHARD  BoARDMAN  left  Philadelphia  in  April,  1772,  for 
New  England.  On  the  evening  of  the  28th  of  April  he 
preached  at  Burlington,  New  Jersey,  and  a  certain  doctor, 
a  man  of  dissipation,  was  touched  under  the  sermon.*  He 
arrived  in  New  York  City  on  the  first  day  of  May,  1772. 
Pilmoor  noted  his  arrival  and  said  that  Boardman  was  on 
"  his  journey  towards  the  North."  It  is  probable  that  he  went 
by  the  way  of  Newport  or  Providence  by  vessel.  We  have 
seen  that  on  May  8,  1772,  Pilmoor  left  New  York  for  the 
South.  Six  days  later  the  following  entry  appears  in  the 
treasurer's  book  of  the  John  Street  Society:  '•'  1772  May  14, 
To  cash  paid  [for]  Mr.  Richard  Boardman's  passage  to  Pvhode 

Island,  1£  9s." 

There  is  no  extant  record  of  Boardman's  travels  in  New 
England.  Lee,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Methodists  "  (page  14), 
asserts  that  Boardman  "  went  as  far  to  the  North  as  Boston," 
but  does  not  speak  of  anything  he  did  there.  Freeborn 
Garrettson,  on  his  return  from  his  mission  in  Nova  Scotia,  m 
the  spring  of  1787,  stopped  a  short  time  in  Boston,  which  was 
two  years  before  Lee  entered  it.  Dr.  Bangs,  who  had  access 
to  Garrettson's  papers  and  Journal,  in  his  "  Life  of  Garrettson  " 
says  :  "  About  seventeen  [fifteen]  years  before  the  visit  of 
Mr.  Garrettson,  Mr.  Boardman,  one  of  the  European  Metho- 
dist preachers,  had  preached  in  Boston  and  formed  a  small 
society.  Not  being  succeeded  by  any  mmister  of  the  same 
order,  the  society  gradually  diminished  so  that  there  were 
only  three  members  left.  Not  being  admitted  to  any  of  the 
pulpits  of  the  city,  Mr.  Garrettson  preached  a  few  sermons  in 

*  Asbury's  Journal,  Vol.  I.,  p.  29. 
21 


322 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOYEMETs^T   IN   AMERICA 


private  houses  and  passed  on  to  Providence,  Eliode  Island, 
where  he  says  he  found  several  persons  who  loved  the  Lord 

Jesus." 

Thus  the  Gospel  according  to  Methodism  was  preached  in 
the  metropolis  of  New  England,  and  no  doubt  elsewhere  in 
that  region,  by  Eichard  Boardman  in  1772.  As  he  appears  to 
have  gone  to  Boston  by  the  way  of  Ehode  Island,  he  doubt- 
less preached  also  in  that  province.  In  an  account  of  White- 
field's  preaching  in  New  England,  in  1754,  Boston  and  Ehode 
Island  are  named  together.  It  is  said  that  on  November  7, 
1754,  Whitefield  "  took  leave  of  the  Boston  people  at  four  in 
the  morning  and  went  to  Ehode  Island."  We  can  hence 
understand  why  Boardman's  passage  was  paid  to  Ehode 
Island.   It  no  doubt  was  the  more  convenient  route  from  New 

York  to  Boston. 

Boardman's  ministry  in  New  England  was  brief.  Asbury 
met  him  in  the  region  oi  Philadelphia  in  the  closing  days  of 
July,  1772.  While  Boardman  was  in  New  England,  Wright 
was  in  charge  in  New  York.  An  item  of  "  Cash  paid  for  Mr. 
Wright's  tnmk"  appears  in  the  John  Street  treasurer's  book, 
May^ll,  1772,  and  on  July  16th  of  the  same  year  there  is  an 
entry  of  "  Cash  paid  Mr.  Wright,  part  of  his  quarterage, 
XI.  14,  8  ; "  also  September  10,  "  To  cash  paid  Mr.  Wright,  the 
remainder  of  his  quarterage,  £5.  14,  0." 

At  or  near  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  July  20,  1772,  Asbury 
met  a  gentleman  from  New  York,  who  informed  him  that  he 
was  to  go  to  that  city,  "which,"  he  says,  "was  what  I  did 
not  expect."  This  indicates  that  Boardman  had  returned 
from  Boston  and  changed  one  or  more  of  the  preachers. 

Asbury  asserts  that  the  gentleman  who  brought  him  word 
that  he  was  to  go  to  New  York  gave  him  "  an  account  of  Mr. 
Wright's  good  behavior,"  which  implies  that  he  was  accept- 
able in  that  metropolis. 

Asbury 's  journalistic  writings  are  occasionally  marred  by 
apparently  unnecessary  and  unfavorable  remarks  about  his 
associates  in  the  ministry.  That  Eichard  Wright  had  weak- 
nesses is  probable  ;  but  so  perhaps  had  most  of  his  Wesleyan 
fellow  laborers,  who,  nevertheless,  were  on  the  whole  excellent 


asbury' S   STRICTURES   ON   WRIGHT 


323 


men  and  Gospel  heroes.  Why,  without  showing  that  there 
was  any  reason  requiring  it,  should  Asbury  have  given  utter- 
ance to  such  strictures  upon  his  brother  ?  He  says  of  Wright, 
in  July,  1772  :  *'  I  fear  after  all  he  will  settle  in  Bohemia." 
Then  he  must  have  been  acceptable  to  the  Bohemians.  Soon 
after  this  Asbury,  in  New  York,  wrote  :  "  Arriving  about  five 
o'clock,  found  Mr.  Wright,  who  that  night  had  preached  his 
farewell  sermon,  and  told  the  people  that  he  did  not  expect 
to  see  them  any  more.  I  have  always  dealt  honestly  wdth 
him,  but  he  has  been  spoiled  by  gifts.  He  has  been  pretty 
strict  in  the  Society,  but  ended  all  with  a  general  love  feast ; 
which  I  think  is  undoing  all  that  he  has  done."  Then 
shortly  after  this  Asbury  cites  in  his  Journal  an  incident 
which  suggests  that  Wright  w^as  not  pleased  with  Asbury 's 
animadversions,  and  also  that  Asbury  was  not  cured  of  his 
disposition  to  censure  him.  Under  the  date  of  August  4, 
1772,  in  New  York,  Asbury  says :  "  In  the  love  feast  this 
evening  Mr.  Wright  rose  up  and  spake  as  w^ell  as  he  could 
against  speaking  with  severe  reflections  upon  his  brother. 
But  all  this  was  mere  talk.  I  know  the  man  and  his  con- 
versation." This  is  scarcely  what  we  should  anticipate  from 
a  man  of  the  great  excellencies  of  Francis  Asbury.  He  seems 
to  have  been  at  this  early  time  rather  intolerant  respecting 
men  and  methods  that  were  not  in  harmony  with  his  views. 
But  to  err  is  human.  The  errors  of  Asbm-y  were  specks  upon 
a  majestic  character  which  otherwise  apparently  w^as  of  alabas- 
ter wdiiteness.  It  is  fortunate  for  the  memory  of  Eichard 
Wright  that  his  vindication,  by  the  testimomy  of  a  New 
Yorker  to  his  good  deportment  in  that  city,  appears  in  the 
Journal  of  Asbury  on  the  page  preceding  the  page  on  which 
the  latter's  accusatory  references  stand.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered that  at  this  period  Asbary  was  not  twenty-seven  years 
old  and  that  as  he  advanced  in  years  he  grew^  in  wisdom  and  in 
knowledge  of  life  and  of  men.  His  temperament,  how^ever, 
ever  inclined  him  to  be  critical  with  respect  to  men  and 
methods  that  did  not  accord  with  his  predilections. 


CHAPTEE  XYTT 

PILMOOR's   work   in   MARYLAND   IN   1772. 


Most  of  the  time  that  Pilmoor  tarried  in  Philadelphia  be- 
fore going  South,  and  during  much  of  his  progress  to  Mary- 
land, Asbury  was  preaching  at  different  places  in  New  Jer- 
sey.    Of  these  he  mentions  Trenton,  Burlington,  Greenwich, 
Gloucester,  New  Mills,  Haddonfield,  and  Mantua  Creek.     He 
was  at  Evans's  Chapel  at  Greenwich  on  Sunday  morning,  May 
24,  1772,  and  "  preached  at  ten  o'clock  to  near  three  hundred 
people,  collected  from  different  parts,"  and  also  on  Thursday, 
June  5,  when  "about  two  hundred  willing  people"  heard 
him.     It  is  singular  that  in  his  Journal  he  never  mentioned 
Edward  Evans,  who  labored  at  Greenwich,  and  there  died  in 
the  montli  of  Asbury's  arrival.     Hence,  until  Pilmoor's  manu- 
scripts came  to  light  the  name  and  work  of  the  first  Wesleyan 
preacher  that  came  forth  in  America  had  almost  ceased  to  be 
remembered  in  Methodism.    The  church,  of  which  Mr.  Evans 
was  the  first  pastor,  was  built  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
vears  ago,  which  was  long  before  the  Methodists  thought  of 
severing  their  relation  with  the  Church  of  England.     The 
Greenwich  "  Church  was  founded  at  a  meeting  of  the,country- 
folk  in  "Berkley  on  November  29,  1770.     They  first  assembled 
at  the  houses  of  the  several  members,  and  worshipped  with- 
out any  fixed  denominational  ideas,  securing  preachers  as 
best  they  could.     The  confusion  and  dissatisfaction  which 
resulted  from  such  an  arrangement  led  to  a  meeting  at  which 
the  congregation  decided  to  build  a  church  and  have  worship 
according  to  the  tenets  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  so  it 
has  continued  ever  since."  * 

*  Accoiant  of  the  125th  anniversary  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Clarksboro,  N.  J., 
which  is  the  successor  of  the  church  near  Berkley  in  Greenwich  Township,  of  which 
Edward  Evans  was  the  first  minister,  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  November  30, 
1895.     Compare  with  pages  277-278. 


PILMOOR   FIRST   ENTERS   MARYLAND 


325 


Having  crossed  the  river,  Pilmoor  stood  for  the  first  time, 
June  4,  1772,  on  the  south  shore  of  the  Susquehanna.  He 
proceeded  into  Maryland  about  five  miles  to  Mr.  Dallam's, 
"  where,"  he  says,  "  I  found  honest  Eobert  WilUams  preach- 
ing. We  spent  the  evening  together  with  the  family  in  great 
comfort  and  rested  in  peace.  The  next  day,  as  it  had  been 
published,  we  had  a  fine  congregation,  and  the  Lord  enabled 
me  to  preach  glad  tidings  to  the  poor  and  meek.  After 
preaching  we  spent  the  evening  with  William  Husband,  a 
man  of  pretty  extensive  reading  and  tolerably  good  under- 
standing, li  he  had  but  a  sense  of  the  favor  of  God,  he 
would  be  happy.  After  supper  many  poor  negroes  came  in. 
We  joined  in  an  hymn  of  praise,  I  gave  them  an  exhortation 
and  concluded  the  day  with  prayer.  While  we  were  on  our 
knees  wrestling  with  God  I  observed  one  of  the  negroes  go 
out  and  thought  he  was  affected  in  his  mind.  And  so  it  hap- 
pened, for  we  heard  him  calling  loudly  upon  God  to  bless 
him  and  save  his  soul  from  sin." 

On  Saturday,  June  6,  Pilmoor  and  Williams  started  with 
a  guide,  and  going  the  nearest  way  through  the  woods,  soon 
came  to  Richard  Dallam's,  "  a  gentleman  of  considerable  fort- 
une and  truly  desirous  of  serving  the  Lord."  Pilmoor  de- 
scribes Dallam's  home  as  beautiful  for  situation,  "  on  a  branch 
of  the  Chesapeake  ;  the  land  exceedingly  rich  and  fertile,  and 
everything  conducive  to  the  happiness  of  rural  life."  Here 
at  four  in  the  afternoon  "  a  fine  company  assembled,  many  of 
them  of  the  genteeler  sort,"  and  were  serious  and  reverent 
in  their  behavior.  His  conversation  with  the  family  in  the 
evening   was   profitable   and   the   day   was   concluded  with 

prayer. 

Robert  Williams,  who  but  a  month  before  was  m  JNew 
York  City,  reached  Maryland  in  advance  of  Pilmoor.  Will- 
iams was  the  first  Methodist  who  preached  in  Maryland  after 
Strawbridge,  and  he  was  at  this  time  quite  familiar  with  its 
localities.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  he  had  published  Pil- 
moor's coming,  and  made  appointments  for  him,  so  that  with- 
out needless  inconvenience  or  loss  of  time  he  was  able  to 
enter  upon  his  labors  in  the  region  of  the  Chesapeake. 


326 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


The  day  succeeding  that  of  his  arrival  at  Richard  Dallam's 
(a  man  who  became  endeared  to  the  early  Methodist  preach- 
ers) was  the  Sabbath,  and  Pilmoor  went  to  the  "new  chapel," 
which  we  have  already  contemplated  ;  ^  a  chapel,  he  says, 
"which  a  number  of  planters  have  lately  built  for  the 
Methodists."  There  is  foundation  for  the  belief  that  this 
"chapel"  was  the  "log  meeting  house"  of  Strawbridge. 
That  "log  meeting  house,"  it  seems,  never  was  deeded  to 
the  Methodists. 

On  the  Lord's  day,  June  7,  1772,  after  rising  early  and 
partaking  of  a  breakfast,  Pilmoor  started  from  Richard  Dal- 
lam's abode  for  the  "  new  chapel,"  presumably  with  Robert 
"Williams,  where  he  "  found  a  large  congregation  waiting.  I 
retired  into  the  woods,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  a  few  moments  for 
secret  prayer,  and  then  our  worship  began.  As  it  was  the 
feast  of  Pentecost  1  preached  on  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  He  was  present  to  make  the  word  of  God  ef- 
fectual upon  the  hearts  of  the  people.  After  the  first  service 
was  over  we  waited  about  an  hour  and  then  began  again. 
Mr.  Williams  preached  with  a  good  deal  of  freedom  and  the 
people  were  deeply  affected."  Thus  we  get  a  glimpse  of 
Williams  at,  as  we  suppose,  the  earliest  sanctuary  of  Method- 
ism in  Maryland.  We  see  him  preaching  there  on  the  first 
Sabbath  of  June,  1772,  after  a  discourse  by  Pilmoor,  and 
preaching,  too,  with  a  free  utterance  to  a  congregation  who 
were  markedly  moved  by  his  sermon. 

Robert  Williams  was  a  searching,  an  edifying,  and  an 
awakening  preacher.  If  not  brilliant,  certainly  he  was  very 
successful.  He  was  at  home  among  the  rural  assemblies  of 
the  South,  and  moved  as  "  a  burning  and  a  shining  light " 
through  Maryland  and  Virginia.  In  the  latter  province  he 
was  the  Baptist  of  the  Wesleyan  movement;  his  name  is 
associated  with  its  origin  there.  He  was  tireless  in  his 
movements.  His  zeal  was  displayed  in  fervid  and  laborious 
preaching  in  the  North  and  in  the  South.  Tlie  passing  views 
we  get  of  him  indicate  that  he  had  reached  and  perhaps 
passed  middle  life  w^hen  he  came  to  this  country.     Jesse  Lee 

*  See  pages  90-96,  inclusive. 


ROBERT   WILLIAMS   AS    A    PREACHER 


327 


indeed  speaks  of  him  as  "  old  Robert  W^illiams."     But  his 
ardent  soul  was  young  in  vigor,  enthusiasm,  and  courage. 

His  sermons  sometimes  aroused  antipathy  as  well  as  better 
emotions.    Pilmoor  gives  an  instance  of  this  at  Norfolk,  where, 
on  the  twentieth  of  November,  1772,  a  congregation  loudly 
signified  their  dislike  of  the  faithful  evangelist.     AVilliams 
pleached,  and  the  people,  because  of  their  unfriendly  feelings 
toward  him,  made  a  disturbance,  so  that  Pihnoor  found  it 
necessary  "  to  go  and  sit  among  them  to  keep  them  in  order." 
Thev  then    behaved  with  pretty   good    decoram    until   the 
preacher  ceased.    Of  Williams's  preaching  power  Pilmoor  has 
borne  good  witness.     When  Williams  preached  in  New  York, 
in  the  summer  of  1771,  Pilmoor  declared  that  "  he  gave  us  a 
very  good  sermon  on  the  Love  of  God,  and  it  proved  a  bless- 
ing to  the  people."     Williams  was  in  the  home  of  the  Rev. 
Devereux  Jarratt,  rector  of  Bath  Episcopal  parish,  Dinwiddle 
County,  Virginia,  in  March,  1 773.     He  was  the  first  Methodist 
preacher,  Jarratt  informs  us,  who  appeared  in  that  part  of  the 
province,  and  he  describes  Williams  as  "  a  plain,  artless,  in- 
defatigable preacher,"  who  "  was  greatly  blest  in  detecting  the 
hypocrite,  razing  false  foundations  and  stirring  up  believers 
to  press  after  a  present  salvation  from  the  remains  of  sin."  " 
Furthermore  Jarratt  said,  "  I  liked  his  preaching  very  well, 
especially  the  animated  manner  in  which  his  discourses  were 

delivered." 

He  shrewdly  sought  opportunities  to  address  the  people. 
Jesse  Lee  says  that  Williams  "  spared  no  pains  in  order  to 
do  good.  He  frequently  went  to  church  to  hear  the  estab- 
lished clergy,  and  as  soon  as  divine  service  ended  he  has  gone 
out  of  the  church  and  standing  on  a  stump,  block,  or  log  has 
begun  to  sing,  pray  or  preach  to  hundreds  of  people."  He 
would  often  follow  his  public  appeals  with  personal  advice. 
^at  was  common  with  him,"  says  Lee,  "after  preaching  to 
ask  most  of  the  people  that  he  spoke  with  some  question 
about  the  welfare  of  their  souls  and  to  encourage  them  to 
serve  God."     His  success  was  visible.     Lee  states  that  "soon 

*  A  Brief  Narrative  of  the  Revival  in  Virginia.     In  a  letter  to  a  friend.     P.  6. 
London,  1778. 


328 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN    AMERICA 


after  he  began  to  preach  through  the  country  from  Petersburg 
into  the  north  part  of  North  Carolina  the  fruit  of  his  labors 
began  to  appear  and  souls  were  awakened  and  brought  to  the 
knowledge  of  God."  His  memory  was  vivid  and  fragrant 
after  his  work  was  done.  "Athough  he  is  dead,"  says  Lee, 
"  he  yet  speaketh  to  many  of  his  spiritual  children,  while 
they  remember  his  faithful  preaching  and  his  holy  walk."  * 
Williams  died  September  26,  1775.  Two  days  after  Asbury 
wrote  :  "  I  ventured  to  preach  a  funeral  sermon  at  the  burial 
of  brother  W.  He  has  been  a  very  useful,  laborious  man 
and  the  Lord  gave  him  many  seals  to  his  ministry.  Perhaps 
no  one  in  America  has  been  an  instrument  of  awakening  so 
many  souls  as  God  has  awakened  by  him."  We  shall  over- 
take this  primitive  travelling  preacher  again  and  again  as  we 
pursue  him  in  his  fruitful  itinerancy  in  the  South. 

After  both  Pilmoor  and  Williams  had  preached  at  the 
"  new  chapel "  on  the  Sunday  of  June  7,  1772,  they  had  an 
evening  service  at  Josias  Dallam's,  "  and  it  was  a  time  of  re- 
freshing." The  next  morning  they  "  set  out  pretty  early  for 
r>ushtown,  where,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  I  preached  to  a  very  seri- 
ous congregation  under  a  fine  shady  tree.  We  then  went  on 
to  a  place  called  Gunpowder  Neck,  where  I  preached  to  a 
lively,  serious  congi'egation  with  enlargedness  of  heart,  and 
afterwards  met  a  few  of  them  in  private  as  a  society.  Our 
hearts  were  much  knit  together  in  the  love  of  the  gospel." 

It  is  apparent  from  this  that  at  this  time,  June  8,  1772, 
there  was  a  society  in  Gunpowder  Neck.  There  was  one  also 
at  the  place,  which,  no  doubt,  was  Pipe  or  Sam's  Creek,  where 
a  chapel  had  been  "  lately  built  for  the  Methodists."  There 
was  a  societv  also  at  Deer  Creek,  where  Pilmoor  preached 
his  first  sermon  in  Maryland.  It  is  almost  certain  that  there 
was  a  society  at  Bushtown  ;  one  at  the  Forks  of  Gun- 
powder ;  another  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mr.  Bond's ;  another 
at  Evans's,  and  another  one  or  two  possibly  elsewhere.  There 
was  not  at  this  time,  however,  any  society  in  Baltimore.  It 
is  therefore  evident  that  the  Methodist  evangelists  had  not 
hugged  the  cities  in  the  South.     They  were  country  itiner- 

*  See  Lee's  History  of  the  Methodists,  pp.  43-53. 


PILMOOR  ON   FIERY   AND   NOISY   METHODISTS      329 

ants,  and  the  founding  and  shaping  of  the  cause  in  the  cities 
was  mostly  done  by  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  until  they  re- 
turned to  England. 

The  Methodists  in  Maryland  were  demonstrative  in  their 
meetings,  which  fact  gave  Pilmoor  some  concern.     He  feared 
that  evil  would  result  from  what  to  him  seemed  wild-fire. 
He  deemed  it  his  duty  to  check  the  exhibitions  of  unre- 
strained fervor  he  witnessed  in  those  rural  societies.     After 
his  labors  at  Bushtown,  June  8,  1772,  he  had  "  much  conver- 
sation "  in  the  evening  "  with  some  who,"  he  says,  "  think 
they  are  called  to  preach  and  are  as  hot  as  fire,  but  it  is 
dreadfully  wild  and  enthusiastic.     God  has  undoubtedly  be- 
gun a  good  work  in  these  parts  by  the  ministry  of  Messrs. 
John  King,  Eobert  Williams,  and  Robert  Strawbridge,  but 
there  is  much  danger  from  those  who  follow  a  heated  imagi- 
nation rather  than  the  pure  illumination  of  the  Spirit  and  the 
directions  of  the  word  of  God.     Wherever  I  go  I  find  it  nec- 
essary to  bear  my  testimony  against  all  wildness,  shouting, 
and  confusion  in  the  worship  of  God,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  feed  and  preserve  the  sacred  fire  which  is  certainly  kindled 
in  many  parts  of  this  country.     If  this  can  be  done  the  work 
will  spread  on  every  side   and  multitudes  be   gathered  to 
Christ.     But  it  is  hard  to  stem  the  torrent  and   convince 
ignorant  and  fiery  men  that  the  infinite  Jehovah  is  much 
more  pleased  with  the  gentle  meltings  of  a  broken  heart  and 
the  pious  breathings  of  humble  love  than  with  all  the  noise 
and  clamor  in  the  world.     Yet  I  hope  God  will  succeed  my 
endeavors  and  preserve  this  noble  vine  which  his  own  right 
hand  has  planted." 

Nathan  Perigo  had  begun  to  preach  in  that  region  as  early 
as  the  winter  preceding  Pilmoor's  visit.  Probably  he  was  one 
of  those  whom  the  latter  describes  as  being  "  hot  "  and  "  en- 
thusiastic." Pilmoor  was  at  Perigo's  house  during  this  visit 
to  Maryland.  Philip  Gatch  says  of  Perigo,  in  January,  1772  : 
"  I  was  near  him  when  he  opened  the  exercises  of  the  first 
meeting  I  attended.  His  prayer  alarmed  me  much.  I  never 
had  witnessed  such  energy,  nor  heard  such  expressions  in 
prayer  before.     I  was  afraid  that  God  would  send  some  judg- 


330 


THE    WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


ment  upon  the  congregation  for  my  being  in  such  a  place. 
I  attempted  to  make  my  escape.  I  returned."  Gatch  was 
not  then  a  Christian,  but  under  the  sermon  that  Perigo  then 
preached,  he  saw  himself  "  altogether  sinful  and  helpless, 
while  the  dread  of  hell  seized  my  guilty  conscience."  He 
says  he  "  had  heard  of  the  Methodists  driving  some  persons 
mad,  and  began  to  fear  it  might  be  the  case  with  me." 

Gatch  declares  that  at  his  conversion,  which  occurred  in 
Baltimore  County,  the  twenty-sixth  of  April,  1772, ''  ere  I  was 
aw^are  I  w^as  shouting  aloud  and  should  have  shouted  louder  if 
I  had  had  more  strength.  I  w^as  the  first  person  known  to  shout 
in  that  part  of  the  country.  The  order  of  God  difiers  from  the 
order  of  man.  He  knows  how  to  do  his  own  work  and  will 
do  it  in  his  own  way,  though  it  often  appears  strange  to  us. 
Indeed,  it  is  a  strange  work  to  convert  a  precious  soul.  I  had 
no  idea  of  the  greatness  of  the  change  till  the  Lord  gave  me 
to  experience  it.  A  grateful  sense  of  the  mercy  and  goodness 
of  God  to  my  poor  soul  overwhelmed  me."  * 

Freeborn  Garrettson  grew  to  manhood  in  Baltimore 
County,  where  he  heard  the  Methodists  before  Pilmoor  went 
there.  In  1827  Garrettson  preached  a  Semi-Centennial  ser- 
mon, in  which  he  related  some  of  his  reminiscences  of  the 
early  Methodists  of  Maryland.  He  describes  them  as  Pil- 
moor says  he  found  them.  Garrettson  in  that  sermon  says  : 
"  The  work  of  the  Lord  w^ent  on  in  a  powerful  manner.  Sin- 
ners fell  under  the  word  and  cried  for  mercy,  while  others 
shouted  the  praises  of  God.  I  began  to  think  that  this  was 
carrying  matters  too  far.  Societies,  however,  were  formed, 
souls  were  converted  and  some  of  the  young  converts  began 
to  speak  in  public.  Satan  w^as  enraged  and  persecution  com- 
menced. Mr.  Pilmoor  came  to  Maryland.  I  heard  him  and 
was  pleased,  for  I  thought  he  was  checking  what  I  called  en- 
thusiasm." Garrettson  dated  his  conversion  three  years  sub- 
sequent to  this  visit  of  Pilmoor. 

Pilmoor  continued  his  labors  in  Maryland  for  a  season, 
and  found  the  people  hungering  for  the  living  word.     On  the 

*•  Sketch  of  Philip  Gatch,   by  John  McLean,  LL.D.,  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  p.  13. 


PILMOOR,    KING,    AND    WILLIAMS   IN   MARYLAND     331 

ninth  of  June,  1772,  he  went  with  some  friends  to  the  Porks 
of  Gunpowder,  where  he  met  *'  a  fine  congregation,  and  the 
gospel  was  attended  with  success.  When  I  had  done  the 
people  were  so  affected  that  they  would  not  go  away,  but 
wanted  me  to  tell  them  more  about  that  excellent  w^ay  of  sal- 
vation by  Christ.  After  speaking  with  them  for  some  time  I 
prayed  to  God  for  them  and  we  parted  in  peace.  I  then 
went  home  with  a  gentleman  who  had  been  to  hear  me,  and 
was  in  hopes  of  a  little  retirement,  but  the  house  was  soon 
almost  filled  with  people  ;  so  I  spent  the  evening  in  trying 
to  help  them  forward  in  the  way  of  salvation." 

Pilmoor  went  to  Mr.  Bond's  the  ensuing  day,  accompanied 
by  Mr.  Baker.     He  preached  "  to  a  little  company,  who  re- 
ceived the  word  with  gladness.     As  some  of  them  came  a 
little  too  late,"  he  says,  "  and  were  unwilling  to  go  away,  and 
I  not  having  it  in  my  power  to  stay  any  longer,  I  desired 
Mr.  King  to  stay  behind  and  preach  to  them.     Mr.  Williams, 
who  met  me  here,  went  forward  with  me  towards  Baltimore. 
But  hearing  on  the  road  that  preaching  was  not  published, 
we  turned  aside  to  a  friend's  house  in  the  country,  where  we 
w^ere  kindly  entertained  and  spent  the  evening  in  comfort. 
As  it  happened  to  be  the  society's  night,  about  eight  o'clock 
a  number  of  them  gathered  together  and  I  expounded  a  chap- 
ter to  them  and  was  greatly  blessed.     When  I  had  done,  I 
expected  the  people  would  have  gone  away,  but  after  supper 
I  found  most  of  them  still  waiting ;  so  I  was  glad  to  sing  and 
pray  again  and  found  it  difficult  to  get  them  away  after  all." 
This  society  probably  was  at  Evans's,  which,  Philip  Gatch 
asserts,  was  the  first  that  was  formed  in  Baltimore  County. 
Gatch  himself  was  converted   in  the  same  county  less  than 
seven   weeks   prior   to   this  date.     "Two  others,"  he   says, 
*'  found  peace  the  same  evening,  which  made  seven  conver- 
sions in  the  neighborhood.     I  returned  home  happy  in  the 
love  of  God.     I  felt  great  concern  for  my  parents,  but  I  knew 
not  what  would  be  the  result  of  my  change.     My  father  had 
threatened  to  drive  me  from  home,  and  I  knew  that  he  was 
acquainted  with  what  had  taken  place  the  night  before,  for 
he  heard  me  in  my  exercises  near  three-quarters  of  a  mile. 


332 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


Up  to  this  time  my  father  was  permitted  to  oppose  me,  but 
now  God  said  by  His  Providence  to  the  boisterous  waves  of 
persecution,  '  Thou  shalt  go  no  farther.'  He  said  to  me 
while  under  conviction,  *  There  is  your  eldest  brother ;  he 
has  better  learning  than  you,  and  if  there  is  anything  good  in 
it  why  does  not  he  find  it  out  ?  '  That  brother  was  present 
when  I  received  the  blessing  and  became  powerfully  con- 
verted. My  father  inquired  of  him  the  next  morning  what 
had  taken  place  at  the  meeting.  He  gave  him  the  particu- 
lars, uiiil  w omid  up  by  saying  if  they  did  not  all  experience 
the  same  change,  they  would  go  to  hell.  This  was  a  nail  in 
a  sure  place."  * 

Perigo  now  preached  at  Gatch's  father's.  "  He  formed 
two  classes  in  the  neighborhood,  and  established  a  prayer- 
meeting  at  which  both  classes  came  together.  By  this  time 
many  had  experienced  religion."  f 

Williams  seems  to  have  been  Pilmoor's  companion  much 
of  the  time  that  he  was  in  rural  Maryland  in  1772.  Williams 
w^ell  knew  the  ground  and  the  people.  The  fact  that  he  now 
accompanied  Pilmoor  towards  Baltimore  suggests  that  he 
was  not  a  stranger  to  that  city.  Although  there  is  no  ac- 
count of  his  having  preached  there,  the  presumption  that  he 
had  is  reasonable.  Pilmoor,  with  his  culture,  his  manly 
accomplishments  and  eloquence,  was  well  fitted  to  make  an 
abiding  impression  upon  the  chief  towns  in  the  region  of  the 
Chesapeake.  In  three  of  them,  as  we  shall  see,  he  founded 
Methodism. 

*  Judge  McLean's  Sketch  of  Gatch,  pp.  13-14. 
t  Gktch,  p.  16. 


CHAPTEK  XYlIl. 

OKIGIN   OF  THE   FIRST   METHODIST   SOCIETY  IN  BALTIMORE. 

Baltimore,  in  1772,  was  a  town  of  about  five  thousand 
inhabitants,  perhaps  a  few  hundred  more.  From  Griffith's 
''  Annals  of  Baltimore  "  (page  62)  we  learn  that  in  1774  "  a  few 
gentlemen  undertook  a  census  of  the  town,  and  it  w^as  found 
that  there  were  564  houses  and  5,934  persons  of  all  descrip- 
tions." It  was  a  place  of  some  manufactures  and  consider- 
able commerce  in  1772.  Keligiously  "  the  most  obvious 
feature  in  Baltimore  at  the  time  the  Methodists  came  here 
was  diversity  in  its  persuasions.  Already  in  a  population  of 
a  few  thousands  five  congregations  had  been  gathered  and 
churches  erected,  no  two  of  which  were  of  the  same  denom- 
ination. Of  these,  St.  Paul's  Episcopal,  built  in  1744,  and 
paid  for  out  of  the  public  treasury,  was  the  oldest,  wealthiest, 
and  the  most  numerous,  and  the  only  one  in  the  place  that 
was  lawful,  all  others  being  made  tributary  to  its  support."  * 

Joseph  Pilmoor  first  entered  Baltimore  on  Thursday, 
June  11, 1772.  He  was  the  first  preacher  formally  appointed 
by  Mr.  Wesley  to  America  that  preached  in  that  city,  which 
so  soon  became  a  chief  centre  of  the  new  movement.  It  is 
true  we  do  not  know  with  certainty  what  journeys  Boardman 
may  have  taken  prior  to  the  above  date,  as  we  have  but 
slidit  knowledf]fe  of  his  travels,  except  as  we  can  trace  them 
in  the  narrative  of  Pilmoor.  There  is,  however,  no  intima- 
tion in  any  extant  tradition  or  document  that  Boardman 
preceded  Pilmoor  to  Maryland.  Dr.  Stevens  asserts  that 
Baltimore  claims  Strawbridge  "as  its  Methodistic  apostle," f 
but  there   is  no  evidence   aside  from  probability  that  he 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.  William  Hamilton,  Methodist  Quarterly  Review,  July,  1856. 
t  Hist  M.  E.  Church,  Vol.  I.,  p.  78. 


m 


334 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN    AMERICA 


preached  in  that  city  prior  to  Pilmoor's  visit.  Probably 
Williams  and  King  preached  in  Baltimore  before  Pilmoor, 
but  they  were  not  appointed  to  America  in  the  formal  way 
that  Pilmoor  and  Boardman  were.  On  reaching  the  city,  Pil- 
moor "  was  kindly  received  by  Mr.  George  Dagan,  a  Dutch 
merchant,"  who  was  "  not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers." 
Pilmoor  intended  to  preach  at  once  "  abroad,"  but  says  "  a 
heavy  thunder-gust  came  on  in  the  afternoon,  which  pre- 
vented it,  so  I  was  glad  to  accept  of  the  Dutch  Church, 
where  I  preached  to  a  little  company  on  '  So  run  that  ye 

may  obtain.' " 

The  next  dav,  June  12,  he  "  visited  several  families  in  the 
town,  and  did  all  in  my  power,"  he  writes,  "  to  recommend 
the  imwtr  of  (jodliness.  In  the  evening  I  took  my  stand  on  a 
pleasant  green  near  the  Episcopal  Church.  Many  people 
attended,  among  whom  were  two  ministers,  and  all  behaved 
in  a  manner  becoming  the  business  in  which  we  were  en- 
gaged. After  preaching,  several  well-disposed  persons  met 
at  my  lodgings,  and  we  spent  an  hour  in  Christian  conversa- 
tion, singing  and  prayer.  The  next  day  Josiah "  Dallam 
came  from  the  country  to  see  me  and  our  hearts  were  com- 
forted together.  At  night  I  took  my  place  on  the  green  and 
declared  to  a  larger  company  than  we  had  last  evening, 
'  Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory ;  whom  we  preach  warning 
everv  man  and  teaching  every  man  in  all  wisdom  that  we 
may  present  every  man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus. 

On  Sunday,  June  14,  Pilmoor  preached  in  the  Dutch 
Church  to  "  a  serious  congregation,"  from  the  text,  "  A  seed 
shall  serve  him :  it  shall  be  accounted  to  the  Lord  fo)-  a  gen- 
eration." He  afterwards  *' heard  a  Presbyterian  minister 
read  a  pretty  sermon."  At  two  o'clock  he  preached  in  the 
Episcopal  Church  *'  and  many  seemed  io  feel  the  word."  At 
seven  o'clock  he  says  "  above  a  thousand  people,  many  of 
them  principal  inhabitants,  assembled  on  the  green,  and  all 
behaved  with  the  greatest  decency  while  I  published  salva- 
tion for  sinners  through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.     Monday, 

*  In  MSS.  left  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Emory,  Mr.  Dallam's  Christian  name 
is  spelled  Josias. 


PILMOOR  IN   BALTIMORE 


335 


June  15,  he  "  spent  some  time  in  study,  and  at  night  de- 
scribed to  a  large  congregation  the  blessedness  of  the  man 
that  walketh  not  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly,"  and  deliv- 
ered his  testimony  against  the  theatre.  "As  the  players 
were  in  town,"  he  says,  "  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  warn  the 
people  against  them."  When  the  service  was  over  he  "  gave 
an  exhortation  at  Mr.  Dagan's  to  those  who  wished  to  be 
more  fully  instructed  in  the  deep  things  of  the  Kingdom  of 

God." 

Pilmoor  had  service  the  next  day  at  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  Above  fifty  people  attended,  to  whom  he  "  ex- 
plained a  part  of  the  One  hundred  and  nineteenth  Psalm. 
In  the  afternoon,"  he  writes,  "  I  walked  with  several  well-dis- 
posed people  to  a  place  about  a  mile  from  the  town,  called 
the  Point,  where  many  English  people  are  settled  for  the 
convenience  of  the  shipping,  as  the  water  is  much  deeper  than 
at  the  town.  As  the  weather  was  exceedingly  hot  I  was  glad 
to  take  my  stand  under  a  fine  shady  tree,  and  a  fine  congre- 
gation stood  with  the  utmost  attention  while  I  showed  the 
nature  and  necessity  of  repentance.  From  the  deep  serious- 
ness of  the  hearers  I  Avas  led  to  hope  that  the  word  had  found 
its  way  to  their  hearts,  and  will  hereafter  produce  a  harvest 
of  souls  for  our  God.  Wednesday  and  Thursday  I  was  fully 
employed  among  the  people  and  in  public  preaching,  and 
had  the  happiness  to  find  that  I  did  not  labor  in  vain.  Fri- 
day, I  read  and  explained  the  Kules  of  Society  in  public  and 
showed  the  people  the  design  of  Society  meetings.  Saturday, 
as  there  had  been  much  rain  in  the  fore  part  of  the  day  it 
was  not  convenient  to  preach  abroad.  So  I  went  to  the 
Dutch  Church  and  the  Lord  gave  his  blessing  to  the  word." 

Pilmoor  devoted  the  next  Sabbath,  June  21,  1772,  to 
sacred  labor  in  both  city  and  country.  He  preaclied  in  the 
morning  in  Baltimore,  and  then  rode  in  "  a  chaise  "  with  Mr. 
Barnet  "  to  a  place  called  Baltimore  Forest,  where,"  he  says, 
"  I  found  about  five  hundred  people  assembled  in  the  woods, 
so  I  immediately  took  my  stand  under  a  shady  tree  and  had 
great  liberty  to  explain  the  parable  of  the  wheat  and  the 
tares.     As  I  preached  rather  too  long  I  was  greatly  fatigued 


^■' , 


336 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


when  I  got  to  the  town,  but  an  hour's  rest  with  the  bless- 
in-  of  God  restored  me  again,  and  I  preached  on  the  green 
to'' a  larger  congregation  than  ever.  The  Lord  gave  me 
power  to  preach,  and  all  except  one  behaved  very  well.  I 
spoke  to  him  publicly,  and  he  went  off  and  stood  playing 
with  a  child  at  a  distance  till  I  had  done." 

In  this  visit  of  Pilmoor  to  Baltimore  we  see  an  instance 
of  the  inadequacy  of  tradition  as  a  historical  guide.    Tradition 
has  preserved  the  fact  of  Pilmoor's  presence  in  Baltimore 
and  of  his  preaching  out  of  doors  near  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  also  that  he  was  "  a  man  of  commanding  appearance,  an 
able  and  convincing  preacher,  and  was  listened  to  with  much 
interest."     In  minor  particulars,  however,  the  tradition  fails. 
^'  He  addressed  the  people  once  or  tivice  standing  on  the  side- 
walk as  they  came  out  of  St.  Paul's  Church  after  morning 
service  "  says  Dr.  Hamilton  in  the  Methodist   Quarterly  Re- 
vieic,  July,  1856.     The  truth  is  that  he  preached  not  merely 
once  or /if;^,  but  for  eleven  days  successively  he  labored  m 
the  city,  preaching  nearly,  if  not  quite,  every  day,  and  on 
some  days  more  than  once.     One  day,  Sunday,  he  preached 
three  times  in  Baltimore.     Then,  after  a  return  to  the  local- 
ities in  the  province  which  he  visited  before  he  went  to  the 
city,  he  went  back  and  resumed  the  proclamation  of  the  word 

to  the  Baltimoreans. 

We  have  seen  that  he  preached  in  churches  as  well  as  m 
the  street.  On  his  fourth  day  in  Baltimore,  Sunday,  June 
14  1772,  he  preached  in  the  Episcopal  Church.  The  day  he 
reached  the  city  he  preached  in  the  Dutch  Church,  and  he 
also  preached  in  it  on  two  subsequent  occasions. 

Of  the  time  and  the  circumstances  of  the  origin  of  the 
Methodist  Society  in  Baltimore,  we  hitherto  have  had  no 
precise  knowledge.  Neither  Lee  nor  Bangs  furnish  any  in- 
formation on  the  subject,  and  the  same  is  true  of  Lednum, 
Stevens,  and  McTyeire.  Stevens  does  indeed  convey  the 
idea  vaguely  that  King  founded  the  cause  in  Baltimore,  for 
after  alluding  to  his  preaching  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  and  his 
failure  to  get  into  its  pulpit  again,  he  says,  -  Methodism  had 
x^o^^-  however,  entered  Baltimore."    But  it  is  not  certam  that 


PILMOOR  FOUNDS   METHODISM   IN   BALTIMORE       337 

King  preached  there  before  Pilmoor,  and  if  he  did  he  did 
not  form  a  society.  Th^  same  may  be  said  concerning  Will- 
iams, though  it  seems  certain  that  he  was  in  Baltimore  before 
Pilmoor,  because,  as  we  have  seen,  Josias  Dallam  brought  him 
to  Deer  Creek,  which  afterward  was  included  in  the  county 
of  Harford,  and  he  went  thither,  as  Dr.  Dallam  asserts,  from 
Baltimore.  As  Williams  was  not  a  loiterer,  the  presumption 
is  that,  being  in  Baltimore,  he  preached.  He  went  to  Dallam's 
from  Baltimore  in  1769  or  1770,  for  he  was  the  first  Metho- 
dist preacher  that  lifted  the  Methodist  standard  at  Deer 
Creek.  Hamilton's  studies  availed  nothing  in  determining 
when  and  by  whom  Methodism  was  regularly  established  in 
Baltimore,  as  in  his  paper  on  "  Early  Methodism  in  Maryland 
and  Baltimore,"  in  the  Methodist  Quarterly  Revieiv,  he  gives 
no  information  concerning  the  beginning  of  the  society  in 
Baltimore.  In  Bishop  Simpson's  Cyclopaedia  of  Methodism 
(page  566)  is  this  assertion,  namely  :  "  No  permanent  so- 
ciety was  established  in  Baltimore  until  the  arrival  of  Francis 
Asbury,  who  devoted  considerable  time  to  that  city."  This  I 
understand  to  mean  that  Asbury  originated  the  first  "  per- 
manent "  Methodist  society  in  that  town.  This  assertion  is 
incorrect,  because  Methodism  was  organized  in  Baltimore 
several  months  before  Asbury  first  visited  it,  as  Pilmoor's 
manuscripts  abundantly  prove.  It  is  clear  from  Asbury's 
diary  writings  that  he  found  a  society  there,  but  he  gives  no 
information  as  to  its  origin.  Pilmoor  was  in  that  city  five 
months  at  least  before  Asbury  first  entered  it,  and  we  shall 
now   see   that  Pilmoor  was   the  founder  of  Methodism  in 

Baltimore. 

On  Monday,  June  22,  1772,  he  met,  he  says,  "  a  few  seri- 
ous persons  in  the  Dutch  Church,  and  proposed  to  form  a 
society.  Some  of  them  resolved  to  give  up  themselves  to 
the  Lord,  so  I  joined  them  together.  In  the  evening  I 
preached  at  the  Point,  and  bear  them  witness  they  will  re- 
ceive sound  doctrine.  After  preaching,  I  met  the  people, 
who  desired  it,  in  private,  and  we  were  so  abundantly  blessed 
that  they  also  desired  to  be  joined  into  a  society.  The  ear- 
nestness with  which  they  desired  this  made  me  conclude  they 
22 


338 


THE    WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN    AMERICA 


saw  tlie  necessity  of  it,  so  I  joined  twenty-five  of  them  to- 
gether, and  there  is  a  prospect  of  many  more.  May  the 
Lord  give  them  his  blessing  and  daily  add  to  their  number 

such  as  shall  be  saved." 

We  thus  see  that  Pilmoor  formed  a  society  in  Baltimore 
proper,  and  also  one  at  "  the  Point,"  contiguous,  in  the  same 
day.  The  next  day,  June  23,  he  left  the  city  for  a  short 
time.  After  hi:-;  return  he  added  fifteen  to  the  society  in 
Baltimore,  which  made  forty  members.  "  Some  of  these  will, 
I  hope,  be  to  me  a  crown  of  rejoicing  in  the  day  of  our  Lord," 
exclaims  the  preacher.  This  was  the  society  which  Asbury 
found  in  Baltimore,  but  of  which  he  was  not  the  founder. 
It  was  formed  in  the  Dutch  Church,  June  22,  1772,  by  Joseph 

Pilmoor. 

Leaving   Baltimore   for   a   short  time  the    day  after   he 
formed  the''  society  in  that  city,  he  again  visited  the  societies 
in   the  country.     His  description   of  this  trip  affords  vivid 
glimpses  of  the  Methodist  field  in  Maryland  as  it  then  was. 
"As  I  rode  along,"  he  says,  "the  distant  thunder  and  light- 
ning made  me  gladly  accept  of  the  invitation  of  a  friend  by 
the^'roadside  to  turn  in  with  him,  and  it  was  well  I  did ;  for 
the  dreadful  gust  soon  reached  us  and  the  terrible  flashes  of 
lightning  and  loud  peals  of  thunder  bursting  over  us,  together 
^dth  the^eavy  rain,  made  me  glad  to  be  under  shelter.     AYlien 
it  was  over  mv  kind  friend  agreed  to  go  with  me,  and  about 
four  o'clock  we  got  to  the  place  where  I  was  to  have  preached. 
As  they  had  appointed  it  at  some  distance,  when  I  came 
there  Mr.  King  was  preaching,  so  I  kept  out  of  sight  until 
he  had  done  ami  then  gave  the  people  an  exhortation  and  was 
greatly  refreshed  and  comforted  among  them.     Wednesday  I 
preached  at  Bushtown  with  much  freedom  and  peace,  and 
spent  the  evening  with  my  dear  friend,  Mr.  Dallam,  where  I 
preached  the  next  day,  and  on  Friday  went  with  several  friends 
to  a  place  near  the  Susquehanna,  where  we  found  a  congrega- 
tion waiting,  to  whom  I  explained  the  nature  of  SpirUual  re- 
ligion.    Went  home  with  a  sensible,  pious  Quaker,  at  whose 
house*  a  great  many  people  assembled  in  the  evening,  and  I 
had  encouraging  freedom  of  mind  in  speaking  to  them  of  GorT<^ 


PILMOOll   AT   THE   CHAPEL   IN    MARYLAND 


339 


method  of  justifying  sinners ;  and  am  in  hopes  the  wildness 
that  was  likely  to  destroy  the  work  will  soon  be  effectually 
cured.  Saturday,  27th,  I  was  accompanied  by  several  of  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Childs,  a  very  rich  Quaker,  where  many  people 
of  fashion  attend  and  seem  to  think  it  their  greatest  honor 
to  be  followers  of  Jesus.  After  dinner  I  rode  on  to  Mr. 
Dallam's,  at  Deer  Creek,  where  I  preached  at  five  o'clock  on 
'  Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory,'  etc.  The  word  was  attended 
by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  and  made  a  special  blessing  to  the 

people." 

He  has  now  come  to  the  last  Sunday  of  June,  1772.     -i 
new  chapel  attracted  him  on  the  Sabbath  morning,  as  it  did 
three  weeks  before.     As  I  have  already  said  in  a  former  part 
of  this  work,  the  conclusion  seems  warranted  that  the  new 
chapel  at  which  Pilmoor  and  Williams  preached  June  seventh, 
was  the  same  to  which  Pilmoor  now  went  on  the  twenty-eighth 
of   June.      The  only  Wesleyan  chapel  in  Maryland    would 
naturally  be  a  centre  of  interest  to  the  Methodists  of  that 
province,  and  so  it  is  not  strange  that  Pilmoor  was  there  with 
Williams  the  first  Sunday  he  spent  in  Maryland,  nor  that  he 
returned  to  it  on  this  the  last  Sabbath,  which  during  this  visit 
he  gave  to  the  rural  part  of  the  province.     Of  the  last  Sun- 
day of  June,  1772,  Pilmoor  says :    "  We  set  off  early  in  the 
morning  [apparently  from  Deer  Creek]    for  a  new  chapel," 
where  we  found  four  times  as  many  people  as  it  would  con- 
tain, so   they   made   me  a  place  in  the  wood,  and  I  stood 
beneath  the  spreading  branches  of  a  stately  oak  and  called 
the  multitude  to  the  gospel  Bethesda,  the  spiritual  house  of 
Mercy,  where  all  that  come  may  obtain  a  perfect  cure  of  all 
their  diseases.     After  preaching  was  over  the  people  were 
unwilling  to  go  away  ;  so  I  told  them  if  they  would  wait  till 
I  got  a  little  refreshment  I  would  give  them  another  dis- 
course.    I  stepped  to  a  cottage  at  a  small  distance  and  got  a 
dish  of  tea,  and  then  returned  to  the  wood,  where  I  found 
most  of  the  people  waiting.     I  preached  again,  and  was  par- 
ticularly owned  and  blessed  of  God ;  but  being  obliged  to 
speak  pretty  loud  I  was  much  fatigued  and  should  have  been 

*  Compare  pp.  91-92  with  this  passage  from  Pilmoor. 


340 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


glad  of  a  little  rest,  but  the  time  was  not  yet,  for  it  had  been 
appointed  for  me  to  preach  above  eight  miles  off.  I  hastened 
forward  and  found  a  great  many  more  than  the  house  could 
contain.  So  I  was  obliged  to  preach  abroad  a  third  time,  and 
God  gave  me  strength  in  that  hour  and  caused  our  hearts  to 
rejoice  in  his  salvation.  When  I  was  done  I  was  so  exceed- 
ingly tired  that  I  could  hardly  stand  or  speak.  But  it  is  for 
Christ  and  a  day  of  rest  is  at  hand." 

Pilmoor  preached  at  Deer  Creek,  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Dallam,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  June.  "  We  had  a  large  and 
attentive  congregation,"  he  says.  "  My  mind  was  much  at 
liberty  to  declare  the  truth,  and  the  people  seemed  io  fed  the 
word  and  to  '  worship  God  in  the  Spirit.'  I  then  hastened 
to  Mr.  Watters',  where  a  large  congregation  was  waiting  in  the 
barn,  so  I  began  without  delay  and  explained  part  of  the 
Sixty-first  Chapter  of  Isaiah.  My  own  soul  was  deeply 
affected  with  the  subject,  and  most  of  the  people  wept  much 
while  I  discoursed  on  the  grand  process  of  redeeming  love  as 
begim,  carried  on  and  completed  by  Immanuel,  the  sinners 
Friend.  Afterward  spent  the  evening  most  comfortably  with 
the  family  and  several  friends."  Before  leaving  Henry 
Watters's  house,  near  Deer  Creek,  the  next  morning  Pilmoor 
inscribed  a  memento  of  his  visit  upon  a  window-pane,  "  which 
still  remains,"  says  Dr.  Emory,*  as  follows  : 

"  Soft  peace  she  brings  wherever  she  arrives, 
She  builds  our  quiet  as  she  forms  our  lives, 
Lays  the  rough  paths  of  peevish  nature  even 
And  opens  in  each  heart  a  little  heaven." 

"  Exalt  Jehovah,  Our  God." 
«  June  30,  1772."  *'J.  P." 

The  morning  of  June  30th  "  I  set  out  with  several  friends," 
says  Pilmoor,  "  for  Mr.  Baker's,  at  the  Forks  of  Gunpowder, 
where  we  found  a  noble  congregation,  and  as  there  was  no 

*  This  circumstance  is  related  by  Dr.  Robert  Emory  in  a  manuscript  yet  pre- 
served concerning  Methodism  in  Harford  County,  Maryland.  Whether  the  glass 
containing  this  inscription  by  Pilmoor,  which  had  been  kept  until  Dr.  Emory^a  day, 
is  still  in  existence  I  am  not  informed. 


PILMOOR  IN  MARYLAND   AND   BALTIMORE  341 

house  that  would  near  contain  them  I  was  glad  to  stand  up  in 
the  woods,  and  the   people  were  finely  sheltered  from  the 
extreme  heat  of  the  sun  by  the  spreading  branches  of  the 
trees.     Most  of  the  gentry  in  the  neighborhood  were  present 
and  expressed  the  utmost  satisfaction,  and  one  of  them  took 
me  home  with  him  and  entertained  me  with  great  hospitality." 
Thus  have  we  followed  Pilmoor  from  his  entrance  into 
Maryland,  on  the  fourth  of  June,  1772,  to  the  end  of  that 
month.     We  have  seen  him  preaching  at  Deer  Creek  ;  Eich- 
ard  Dallam's;  Bushtown  ;  Gunpowder  Neck  ;  Forks  of  Gun- 
powder ;  Mr.  Bond's ;  a  place  not  designated,  which  he  found 
in  the  country  as  he  went  to  Baltimore ;  Baltimore  City  ; 
Fell's  Point ;  Baltimore  Forest ;  and  at  several  other  places. 
Most  of  these  places  he  visited  twice.     Besides  he  twice  vis- 
ited the  "  new  chapel "  in  Maryland  and  preached  three  ser- 
mons there.  ^^     n    t. 
He  now  saw  the  opening  of  the  month  of  July,  on  the  first 
day  of  which  he  went  to  Bond's,  having  "  a  pleasant  journey 
through   the  woods."     There  he  met  a  large  congi^egation, 
to  whom  he  preached  on  "  the  nature  of  Faith."     He  then 
"  went  home  with  Captain  Jolley,"  where  he  says  "  I  spent  the 
evenin-  with  the  utmost  pleasure  and  satisfaction.     I  love 
much  io  converse  with  people  of  good  sense  and  pleasing  ad- 
dress but  mv  call  is  to  go  forward  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  poor.     Took  leave  of  the  family  and  went  forward  with 
Henry  Johns  to  Mr.  Perigo's.     God  sent  a  refreshing  shower 
of  heavenly  consolation  while  I  was  preaching."     He  then 
went  to  Mr.  Woodward's,  where  he  "  was  kindly  entertained 

and  slept  in  peace."  ^i  •   i  i  rrrro 

Pilmoor  returned  to  Baltimore  on  Friday,  July  third,  177^, 
"  ready  to  faint  with  the  heat,"  after  an  absence  of  ten  days, 
in  which  he  abounded  in  labor.  That  night  he  preached  m 
the  town,  and  also  on  the  night  following.  On  Sunday  July 
5  he  preached  in  the  country  again,  but  the  place  is  not  des- 
ignated, and  he  returned  to  Baltimore  the  same  evening  and 
preached  on  the  Green,  where  he  says  "it  was  remarkably 
pleasant."     The  congregation  was  large.  ^  ^,      . 

The  next  day  he  preached  at  "  the  Point,    and  the  day 


342 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


after  to  "a  listening  multitiule  in  the  town."  Then,  on 
Wednesday,  July  8th,  1772,  he  "  went  to  preach  again  at  Mr. 
Woodwards."  There  he  had  "a  time  of  refreshing,"  and  then 
returned  to  Baltimore  "  in  the  night  for  fear  of  the  heat  on 

the  morrow." 

He  had  an  appointment  to  meet  the  society  on  Thursday, 
the  ninth,  "in  the  Dutch  Church."  Many  besides  the  mem- 
bers attended  ;  "  so,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  I  gave  a  general  exhorta- 
tion and  afterward  met  the  class,  and  knowing  that  people  are 
apt  to  speak  many  disrespectful  things  of  our  private  meetings, 
I  was  glad  that  several  strangers  were  present  while  I  spoke 
to  the  members,  and  were  so  far  from  objecting  that  they  ex- 
pressed the  highest  approbation.  So  I  joined  fifteen  to  the 
society,  which  now  consists  of  forty  members."  "  There  is 
now,"  he  writes,  "an  open  door  in  this  town,  and  nothing  is 
wanted  but  a  good,  zealous  preacher,  for  the  people  are  well 
affected  to  the  cause  of  God  and  wish  us  prosperity  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord.  My  heart  is  much  united  with  them,  and 
T  would  like  to  continue  longer  in  these  parts,  but  the  '  tute- 
lary cloud'  moves  southward  and  I  am  called  to  go  forward." 

"^Pilmoor  left  Baltimore  on  Friday,  July  10,  1772,  for  Vir- 
ginia. He  prepared  for  his  journey,  "  took  leave  of  my  dear 
friends  in  Baltimore,"  he  says,  "and  about  one  o'clock  set  off 
for  Annapolis.  As  the  weather  was  hot  and  the  road  sandy, 
our  horse  f;dled  us  wdtliin  seven  miles  of  the  city.  We  were 
obliged  to  put  up  at  a  poor  cottage  by  the  roadside,  where  our 
accommodations  were  very  bad.  We  dould  get  nothing  for 
the  horse  but  a  few  blades  of  Indian  corn,  which  we  stripped 
off,  and  we  ourselves  were  uncomfortable  enough.  But  it  is 
now  over,  and  I  received  no  other  damage  than  catching  a 
little  cold.  The  next  morning  we  set  off  and  about  ten  o'clock 
arrived  in  the  city."  Pilmoor  was  conveyed  from  Baltimore 
to  Annapolis  by  a  young  man  in  a  "  chaise."  He  did  not 
know  one  person  in  the  town,  and  so  was  at  a  loss  as  to  how 
he  should  proceed  to  get  a  place  for  preaching.  "  AVhile  we 
were  at  dinner  in  the  Coffee-house,"  he  says, "  a  young  store- 
keeper came  in  who  expressed  a  desire  to  hear,  and  readily 
went  with  me  about  the  town  to  look  out  for  a  convenient  place. 


PILMOOR'S   ministry   in    ANNAPOLIS 


348 


As  we  walked  along  I  observed  a  very  large  tree  in  a  fine 
piece  of  ground,  where  many  people  might  stand  in  the  shade. 
AVe  made  application,  and  readily  obtained  leave  of  the 
owner  to  preach  under  it  that  night.  So  I  sent  the  bell-man 
around  the  town  to  inform  the  inhabitants  and  at  seven 
o'clock  had  a  fine  congregation." 

The  next  day— Sunday,  July  12— he  had  a  small  audience 
"in  the  field"  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning.     He  attended 
the  church  service  twice.     In  the  evening  he  preached  under 
the  large  tree  to  "  a  vast  multitude  "  on  the  Gospel  Bethesda, 
and  closed  the  day  with  prayer  at  the  Coffee-house.     He  was 
anxious  to  leave  for  Norfolk,  and   on   Monday  morning  he 
"  went  down  to  the  water  side  "  to  look  for  a  boat,  but  found 
none.     "An   old  gentleman    offered   to   send   me  for   eight 
pounds,"  he  said,  "  but  I  thought  it  was  very  extravagant  and 
therefore  resolved  to  wait."     He  accepted  a  friendly  invita- 
tion of  a  young  man  to  breakfast,  where  he  met  "some  very 
agreeable  people,  with  whom  I  spent  an  hour  comfortably. ' 
He  preached  in   the  evening  to  a  very  good  congregation, 
"who  were  remarkably   attentive"  while  he  discoursed   to 
them  from  the  text :  "  Christ  our  Passover,  slain  for  us."    He 
remarks,  however,  that   "I  do  not  find  myself  at  liberty,  nor 
have  I  near  so  much  satisfaction  in  preaching  here  as  in  most 
other  places  where  I  have  been."     He  "  breakfasted  "  next 
morning  "with  the  Eev.  Mr.  Montgomery  at  his  lodgings." 

Thus  was  Methodist  preaching  introduced  into  Annapolis. 
All  the  Wesleyan  travelling  preachers  who  up  to  that  time 
had  visited  Maryland  were  Strawbridge,  Williams,  King,  and 
now  Pilmoor.  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  IMethodist  preacher 
Avas  before  Pilmoor  in  proclaiming  the  Gospel  to  the  citizens 
of  Annapolis.  His  sermon  under  the  large  tree,  July  11, 1772, 
probably  was  the  first  Methodist  sermon  ever  preached  in 

that  town. 

On  Tuesday,  July  14,  1772,  Pilmoor  '*  spent  a  profitable 
hour  with  my  landlady  at  the  Coffee-house,"  he  says,  "  who 
behaved  the  most  like  a  Christian  of  any  I  have  met  with  in 
the  town.  When  I  had  gotten  my  things  ready  and  wanted 
my  bill  she  told  me  I  was  perfectly  welcome  to  what  I  had 


344 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


had  at  lier  liouse,  and  begged  I  would  make  use  of  it  when- 
ever I  came  to  Annapolis.  She  also  sent  provisions  on  board 
the  boat  for  me  on  my  passage,  and  we  parted  in  great  peace 
and  friendship.  About  12  o'clock  I  embarked  and  we  sailed 
immediately,  but  the  wind  turning  right  ahead  we  were  obliged 
to  cast  anchor  and  wait  for  the  turning  of  the  tide.  While 
we  waited,  the  negroes,  who  were  all  the  companions  I 
had,  proposed  going  ashore,  which  I  gladly  consented  to  do, 
and  had  a  fine  opportunity  of  bathing  in  the  salt  water. 
Wednesday  we  had  a  pretty  breeze  and  dropped  down  the 
Bay  about  twenty  miles.  On  Thursday  the  clouds  gathered 
thick  around  us  and  soon  burst  in  dreadful  peals  of  thunder, 
but  we  received  no  other  damage  than  being  a  good  deal  ter- 
rified with  the  tremendous  flashes  of  lightning.  About  sun- 
set we  crossed  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac  and  had  a  fair  wind 
all  night  and  on  Friday  morning  found  ourselves  in  Hampton 
Eoads,  about  fifteen  miles  from  the  desired  port.  About 
seven  o'clock  I  landed  safe  at  Norfolk." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

riLMOOR  IN  VIRGINIA  AND   NORTH   CAROLINA,  AND  THE  FOUNDING 
OF   METHODISM   IN   FORTSMOUTH  AND   NORFOLK. 

JoSEFH  PiLMOOR  first  entered  Virginia  on  the  seventeenth 
of  July,  1772,  and  was  kindly  received  by  Mr.  WilUam  Stephen- 
son, a  Scotchman,  who  invited  him  to  his  house  before  he  left 
New  York.  The  same  evening  he  opened  his  mission  in 
Norfolk  with  a  sermon  in  the  "  Playhouse."  The  congrega- 
tion was  small  and  so  was  the  promise  of  success.  He 
preached  again  the  following  evening  on  the  Nature  of  Ee- 
pentance.  He  preached  at  Portsmouth  "  under  a  fine  shady 
tree"  on  Sunday  morning,  the  twenty-sixth  of  July,  on  "  The 
One  Thing  Needful,"  and  the  word  was  with  power.  That 
afternoon,  in  the  theatre  at  Norfolk,  he  preached  to  "most  of 
the  genteel  people  "  of  the  town  on  the  Gospel  Bethesda.  He 
passed  the  evening  with  a  Mr.  Haldane,  who  had  but  lately 
come  from  Philadelphia.  The  next  day  he  received  a  call  from 
the  Eev.  Mr.  Davis,  "  rector  of  Norfolk,"  and  their  conversa- 
tion was  about  religion.  Pilmoor  preached  to  a  large  assem- 
bly the  same  evening. 

His  health  was  now  reduced,  and  he  attributed  it  to  the 
badness  of  the  water  and  the  change  of  climate.  The  next 
day  (July  28th)  he  was  so  ill  that  he  was  sorrowfully  obliged 
to  disappoint  a  congregation  at  Portsmouth.  A  stranger  sent 
him  something,  which  gave  him  relief,  and  he  soon  resumed 

his  beloved  work. 

He  met  "  a  lovely  congregation  "  at  seven  in  the  morning, 
in  the  Norfolk  Theatre,  on  the  last  Sunday  of  July,  1772,  and 
afterward  was  much  edified  in  hearing  Mr.  Davis  at  the 
church.  At  night  the  theatre  in  Norfolk  would  not  hold  half 
of  the  people,  so  Pilmoor  preached  in  the  open  air.     This 


346 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMEKICA 


was  by  far  tlie  largest  congregation  he  had  met  since  he 
left  Philadelphia.  The  next  day  (Monday)  "  I  had  a  good 
time  at  Portsmouth,"  he  says,  "  and  Tuesday  went  about  five 
miles  into  the  woods  to  William  Owen's,  where  I  found  a 
pretty  congregation  waiting  for  me,  to  whom  I  preached  the 
gospel  of  God."  Mr.  Owen  was  a  helper  of  the  cause. 
William  Watters  soon  came  to  Norfolk  to  join  Pilmoor  in  the 
work,  and  he  says,  "  William  Owen  was  one  of  my  gi^eat  con- 
fidants, and  often  refreshed  my  spirits.  His  house  was  at  all 
times  a  home  for  me."  " 

Pilmoor  had  "  a  vast  multitude  of  attentive  hearers  "  in 
Captain  Good's  yard,  at  Portsmouth,  at  ten  o'clock  Sunday, 
August  1),  1772.  The  same  evening  he  was  at  the  theatre  in 
Norfolk,  where  he  met  an  exciting  episode.  The  assembly 
was  very  large,  but  as  the  ground  was  so  wet  he  was  advised  to 
preach  indoors.  Men  were  appointed  to  keep  all  the  negroes 
out  until  the  white  j^eople  were  admitted,  for  wh(^m  there  was 
not  sufHcient  room.  Pilmoor  began  the  service,  but  soon  a 
plank  gave  way  "and  the  stage  on  which  the  pulpit  was  fixed 
began  to  sink  down  at  one  side,"  he  says,  "  which  so  terrified 
the  people  that  they  cried  out  amain.  As  I  perceived  it 
would  be  impossible  to  quiet  the  people,  I  slipped  out, 
ordered  a  table,  and  began  singing  on  the  large  plain  adjoin- 
ing the  house.  This  happened  to  be  the  very  thing.  The 
people  drew  out  of  the  house  and  I  had  a  noble  congregation 
of  white  and  black,  to  whom  I  freely  declared  the  whole 
counsel  of  God." 

The  next  Sunday  he  preached  in  the  morning  at  Noi*folk 
and  then  went  to  Portsmouth,  where  he  met  the  largest  con- 
gregation he  had  seen  there.  He  dined  with  "  a  great  mer- 
chant," Mr.  Sproul,  at  Gosport,  and  received  marked  kindness. 
After  dinner  he  was  sent  over  the  river  in  the  family  boat  and 
reached  Norfolk  in  time  for  evening  preaching.  The  white 
people  filled  the  house,  "  and  a  vast  multitude  of  black  people 
stood  around  about  the  outside."  The  word  on  Pilmoor's  lips 
was  "  like  a  sharp  two-edged  sword  piercing  into  the  hearts 
of  sinners."     The  third  day  after  this  he  "  was  chiefly  em- 

*  Life  of  Watters, 


PILMOOR   AT   WILLIAMSBURG   AND    YOUKTOWN,  VA.     347 

ployed  in  conversation  with  the  people,  who  begin,"  he  says, 
"to  desire  instruction  in  the  things  pertaining  to  salvation." 
He  now  sailed  for  AVilliamsburg,  Va.,  where  he  enjoyed 
the  hospitality  of  Mr.  Dean,  a  coach-maker  from  New  York. 
Pilmoor  gathered  a  small  congregation  on  the  evening  of  his 
arrival,  which  appears  to  have  been  August  21,  1772.     On 
Sunday,  the  twenty-second,  he  heard  a  useful  sermon  at  the 
church  and  the  rector  invited  him  to  dine.     In  the  evening 
he  preached  to  a  multitude  in  the  State  House  yard.     ''  As 
the  minister  himself  was  to  hear,  and  treated  me  so  genteelly," 
says  Pilmoor,  "  the  rest  of  the  people  were   ashamed  to  do 
anything  uncivil."     The  next  morning  Pilmoor  was  ill,  but 
was  so  much  better  in  the  afternoon  that  he  preached  to  a 
vast  crowd  of  people  in  the  playhouse.     Of  the  success  of  his 
ministry  in  Williamsburg,  then  the  capital  of  Virginia,  he  says  : 
"  'Tis  surprising  what  a  change  there  is  in  this  place  in  a  few 
days.     When  I  came  few  cared  anything  about  the  preaching, 
but  now  abundance  of  people  are  not  only  glad  to  hear  it, 
but  also  willing  to  receive  it." 

Prom  Williamsburg  he  went  to  Yorktown,  August  24th, 
1772.     Being  unknown  there  he  put  up  at  a  public  house, 
where  he  met  several  young  men  of  the  College  of  William 
and  Mary,  in  Williamsburg,  one  of  whom  mad(3  some  obser- 
vations on  theology,  which  drew  from  Pilmoor  an  adroit  reply. 
The  young  collegian   he  says    "began    an  argument  abcmt 
creeds,  and  pretended  that  he  could  not  believe  anything  he 
did  not  understand.      I  told  him  the  advocates  for  Natural 
PveUgion  were  under  the  same  disadvantage  in  that  respect  as 
those  who  believe  in  Pievealed  Eeligion,  for  there  are  many 
things  in  Nature  which  every   philosoi)her  most    certainly 
believes,  and  yet  can   no   more  understand  or  account  for 
them  than  we  can  understand  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  so 
that  herein  they  have  no  cause  to  triumph  over  the  Trini- 
tarians at  all."     In  the  afternoon  Pilmoor  preached  at  York- 
town,  ''  in  the  dining-room,  to  a  pretty  large  congregation  of 
*  very  genteel  hearers,  and  by  the  seriousness  of  the  people  had 
good  hope  that  my   labor  was  not   in   vain."     During   the 
delivery  of  this  sermon  he  was  taken  ill,  and  became  worse. 


348 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


SO  that  lie  had  to  take  to  his  bed.  The  next  morning,  how- 
ever, he  began  his  journey  to  Hampton,  where  he  found 
himself  much  better. 

At  Hamptom  he  asked  for  and  obtained  the  use  of  a  large 
diuing-room,  and  sent  out  word  to  the  people  that  he  would 
preach,  and  at  the  time  appointed  a  fine  congregation  came. 
''But  just  as  I  was  preparing  to  preach,"  he  says,  "I  was 
seized  with  a  severe  fit  of  the  ague.  However,  as  the  people 
were  gathered  I  resolved  to  preach  if  possible,  went  imme- 
diately into  the  room  and  gave  out  a  hymn  and  then  kneeled 
down  in  prayer,  but  was  so  very  sick  that  I  had  like  to  have 
fallen  down  on  the  floor.  Being  unable  to  stand  I  told  the 
people  if  they  would  permit  me  to  sit  doNvn  I  would  try  to 
preach.  The  fever  was  so  hot  upon  me  that  I  was  almost 
scorched  and  could  hardly  hold  up  my  head ;  yet  the  Lord 
gave  me  uncommon  clearness  in  my  ideas,  and  his  blessing 
attended  in  a  special  manner  while  I  was  trying  to  snatch 
poor  souls  as  brands  out  of  the  fire.    The  people  were  greatly 

affected." 

Among  the  hearers  on  this  occasion  was  Captain  Brickell, 
of  Norfolk,  whose  family  constantly  attended  the  preaching. 
The  Captain,  however,  greatly  disapproved  of  the  Methodists. 
When  he  left  his  family,  a  few  days  previously,  he  requested 
them  never  to  hear  Methodist  preaching  again.  He  was  so 
moved  under  the  sermon  Pilmoor  preached  in  such  weakness 
of  bodv  at  Hampton,  and  was  so  thoroughly  convinced  of  the 
truth,  that  before  sailing  "  to  the  West  Indies,  he  left  the  ship 
in  the  Eoads  and  went  to  Norfolk  to  entreat  his  wife  and 
family  never  to  miss  a  sermon,  but  to  constantly  attend  the 
preaching  at  all  opportunities."  Pilmoor  declares  that  the 
Captain  "became  one  of  the  best  men  I  ever  met  with  in  any 
part  of  the  world."  About  three  months  after  the  change 
was  wrought  in  him  under  Pilmoor's  unctuous  sermon  at 
Hampton,  William  Watters,  as  we  shall  see,  went  to  Norfolk. 
In  going  to  Conference  at  Deer  Creek,  in  1777,  Watters  says : 
"  I  met  with  my  friend,  Captain  Brickell,  from  Norfolk.  It 
brought  to  my  mind  the  days  that  were  past,  when  in  weak- 
ness and  in  much  fear  and  trembliog  I  first  saw  him  and  his 


pilmoor's   MINISTRY   IN   NORFOLK,  VA. 


349 


family."  *  Thomas  Eankin,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  AVesley,  says 
that  on  June  24,  1776,  he  "  left  Leesburg,  Va.,  in  company 
with  Wright  Brickell,  a  truly  devout  man,  who  now  rests 
from  his  labors."  t  This  man  may  have  been  the  Captain 
Brickell  of  Pilmoor's  narrative ;  if  he  was  he  died  in  less 
than  six  years  from  the  time  that  his  mind  was  so  graciously 
wrought  upon  under  the  discourse  delivered  by  Pilmoor  in 
such  physical  infirmity  at  Hampton. 

From  Hamptom  Pilmoor  went  by  boat  to  Norfolk.  There 
he  suffered  another  attack  of  the  ague  and  fever,  but  made 
full  proof  of  his  ministry.  The  last  Sunday  in  August,  1772, 
he  felt  better  and  sent  word  to  the  people  in  the  afternoon 
that  he  would  try  to  preach  in  the  evening.  A  very  large 
congregation  soon  gathered,  and  "though  my  legs  could 
hardly  stand  under  me,"  he  says,  "  I  found  my  soul  greatly 
refreshed.  While  I  have  breath  I  will  gladly  publish  salva- 
tion to  sinners  through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  If  he  is  ex- 
alted I  am  fully  satisfied  whether  it  be  by  life  or  by  death  ; 
for  me  to  live  is  Christ  and  to  die  is  gain."  The  next  night 
he  was  better,  and  after  preaching  he  "  read  the  rules  of  the 
society  in  public  and  had  a  multitude  to  hear,"  which  he  says 
"afforded  me  a  fine  opportunity  of  explaining  many  things 
respecting  our  discipline  which  people  in  general  do  not  un- 
derstand. This  was  made  a  singular  blessing  to  many  and 
effectually  removed  prejudice  from  their  minds." 

There  was  a  aood  audience  at  Portsmouth  on  the  morning 
of  Sunday,  September  12,  1772,  to  whom  Pilmoor  p_'eached, 
more  alarmingly  than  he  had  ever  done,  on  the  latter  part  of 
the  twenty-fifth  of  St.  Matthew.  In  the  evening  the  congre- 
gation at  Norfolk  "  was  abundantly  larger  and  the  people 
were  all  attention."  The  ensuing  night  he  preached  again 
at  Norfolk  and  the  next  night  at  Portsmouth,  where  "  abun- 
dance of  people  heard  the  word."  The  following  day  (Sep- 
tember 15)  several  persons  came  to  accompany  him  to  the 
country.  "  The  weather  was  fine,"  he  says,  "  and  we  had  a 
most  agreeable  journey  through  the  groves  of  pine  trees  in- 

*  Watters's  Life,  p.  56. 

t  A  Brief  Narrative  of  the  Revival  of  Religion  in  Virginia.     London,  1778. 


350 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


termingled  with  stately  oaks.  In  the  afternoon  we  had  a 
fine  congregation  under  the  shady  trees,  and  a  deep  serious- 
ness sat  upon  every  countenance  while  I  explained  and  im- 
proved the  story  of  Zacheus,  the  publican.  My  heart  was  so 
drawn  out  with  desire  for  their  salvation  that  I  continued 
speaking  about  two  hours,  and  I  believe  not  in  vain.  After- 
wards I'walked  through  the  woods  to  visit  a  poor  man  who 
had  been  confined  to  his  room  for  eight  years.  As  many  of 
the  neighbors  came  in  I  gave  them  an  exhortation.  We  re- 
turned to  ^rr,  Handle's.  In  the  morning  we  went  to  the 
house  of  a  poor  widow,  where  I  had  appointed  to  preach,  and 
found  a  great  number  of  people  gathered  from  various  quar- 
ters, whom  I  invited  to  come  to  Christ.  About  five  o'clock 
returned  safe  to  Portsmouth." 

The  congregation  at  Portsmouth  was  much  larger  than 
the  house  would  contain  on    Sunday,  September  19,  1772. 
Pilmoor   preached   from  a  table   in    Captain    Good's  yard. 
Then  he  heard  a  discourse  at  the  church  which  led  him  to 
express  the  fear  that  "an  historical  account  of  Darius  and 
Alexander  the  Great  will  never  bring  poor  sinners  to  an  ac- 
quaintance with  Jesus."     The  next  day  he  was  at  the  West- 
em  Branch,  where  at  a  ^Nlr.  Grimes's  he  preached  on  blind 
Bartimeus  with  such  efiect  that  the  people  wept  for  their 
sins  and  cried  for  mercy.     He  continued  in  the  country  until 
Saturday.     The  Sunday  ensuing  the  congregation  overflowed 
the  house  at  Portsmouth ;  the  women  were  within  and  the 
men  without.     At  night  the  house  was  crowded  at  Norfolk. 

Pilmoor  kept  his  eye  upon  the  outlying  country  and 
sought  therein  new  fields  of  labor.  On  the  twenty-seventh  of 
September,  1772,  he  says  :  "  I  took  leave  of  my  dear  friends 
for  a  little  while  and  set  out  for  North  Carolina.  The  day 
was  very  hot  and  my  way  was  through  the  woods.  I  called 
at  many  little  houses  on  the  road,  but  could  get  nothing  for 
my  horse  till  late  in  the  afternoon,  when  I  found  a  little  ordi- 
nary, where  I  stoi)ped  to  dine.  I  resolved  to  stop  there  all 
night.  In  the  evening  several  young  countrymen  came  in  who 
desired  to  speak  with  me,  and  we  spent  our  time  in  agreeable 
conversation,  singing,  and  prayer."     Next  morning  he  resumed 


PILMOOR  IN   NORTH   CAROLINA 


351 


his  journey,  and  a  little  before  noon  reached  Carrituck 
Court  House,  in  North  Carolina.  He  "  began  without  delay, 
and  declared  to  Churchmen,  Baptists,  and  Presbyterians,  '  He 
shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire.'  God 
made  his  word  like  a  hammer  that  breaketh  the  rock  in 
pieces.  The  poor  people  expressed  the  utmost  gratitude," 
says  Pilmoor,  *'and  Colonel  Williams  invited  me  to  dine. 
As  it  was  in  my  way,  I  gladly  accepted  the  offer,  and  found 
one  of  the  prettiest  places  I  have  seen  in  North  Carolina.  T 
was  entertained  with  true  primitive  hospitality."  In  the 
morning  he  went  about  five  miles  to  a  small  chapel,  where  he 
had  a  very  good  time  in  preaching  and  prayer. 

Colonel  Williams  and  Pilmoor  travelled  about  twenty 
miles,  to  the  Narrows  Chapel,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  Sep- 
tember, 1772.  The  road  lay  through  the  woods,  and  was 
rough  and  perilous.  At  the  chapel  they  had  a  very  solemn 
time.  Pilmoor  asserts  that  "  the  poor  ignorant  j)eople  were 
greatly  affected.  One  poor  old  man  came  to  me  with  tears 
in  his  eyes,  thanking  me  for  what  he  had  heard,  and  begged 
me  to  accept  of  some  money  to  help  me  along.  I  told  him 
I  was  not  in  want,  and  begged  him  to  excuse  me,  but  nothing 
would  satisfy  him  without  I  would  take  it  as  a  token  of  his 
Christian  regard  and  love  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  We  then 
mounted,  and  hastening  on  our  way,  in  the  evening  came  safe 
to  Colonel  Williams's."  This  was  not  only  a  day  of  long 
travel,  but  also  of  enforced  abstinence.  Of  it  Pilmoor  wrote : 
"  As  I  had  travelled  above  fifty  miles  without  any  other  re- 
freshment than  a  bit  of  bread  and  a  little  water,  and  exerted 
myself  pretty  much  in  preaching,  I  vv^as  sufficiently  tired. 
But  it  is  for  Jesus." 

The  next  day,  September  30th,  he  left  Williams's  home 
and  rode  to  a  new  church  on  the  border  of  Virginia,  where 
he  preached  "to  a  large  congregation  of  weeping  sinners.'* 
The  following  day  was  the  Sabbath,  and  after  family  prayer, 
Pilmoor,  in  very  rough  weather,  crossed  the  bay  in  a  canoe, 
and  then  walked  over  the  fields  to  the  meetiDg-house,  where 
he  "  had  a  congregation  of  Baptists  and  others,  who  were  all 
attention."     From  that  meeting-house  he  rode  about  eight 


352 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMEUICA 


miles  further,  and  showed  to  "  a  fine  congregation  the  way  of 
salvation,  and  spent  the  evening  in  conversation  with  Chris- 
tian friends."  The  ensuing  day  he  started  early  for  Kemp's 
Landing,  above  twenty  miles  distant,  where  he  arrived  in 
time  to  preach  at  noon.  The  meeting  was  at  the  public 
house.  There  was  to  be  a  horse-race  in  the  afternoon,  and 
before  Pilmoor  left  the  tavern  he  spoke  of  the  absurdity  of 
such  sport,  "  and  showed  how  ridiculous  it  is  for  gentlemen 
of  sense  to  ride  many  miles  to  see  two  or  three  horses  run 
about  a  field  with  negroes  on  their  backs."  When  he  called 
for  his  bill,  the  host  politely  declined  to  receive  pay.  In  the 
evening  Pilmoor  was  again  in  Norfolk. 

He  at  once  resumed  his  work  in  that  town.  On  the  third 
of  October  he  preached  in  the  theatre,  and  on  the  fifth  at 
Portsmouth,  ^' and  visited  a  poor  dying  sinner."  Some 
friends  from  Williamsburg  visited  him,  and  urged  him  to  go 
there  again,  which  led  him  to  hope  that  his  ministry  in  the 
capital  of  Virginia  had  not  been  unfruitful.  On  Sunday 
morning,  the  eighth  of  October,  he  preached  in  the  Norfolk 
theatre 'i' in  the  afternoon  to  "a  vast  multitude  in  Captain 
Good's '  yard,"  at  Portsmouth  ;  and  in  the  evening  "  to  the 
great  congregation  in  Norfolk,  and  took  much  pains  to  con- 
vince them  we  are  all  debtors ;  that  we  owe  to  God  ten  thou- 
sand talents  and  more,  but  are  in  ourselves  totally  insolvent, 
and  therefore  should  look  to  and  heartily  accept  of  our  di- 
vine Surety,  Christ  Jesus,  whose  boundless  love  wipes  away 
the  debt  immense  when  we  have  nought  to  pay." 

He  now  began  to  see  evidence  of  the  saving  effect  of  the 
word  he  had  proclaimed.  The  ninth  of  October  he  gave 
some  time  to  his  studies,  visited  the  people,  "  and  had  one  to 
speak  with  me,"  he  says,  "about  the  salvation  of  his  soul. 
This  is  a  rare  thing  in  Norfolk,  and  I  hope  it  will  not  long 
be  so.  Many  are  clearly  convinced  of  the  truth,  but  as  yet 
they  are  ashamed  of  the  cross,  and  fear  the  reproach  that  at- 
tends the  gospel."  He  heard  that  a  gentleman  who  con- 
stantly waited  upon  his  ministry  had  reported  that  he 
preached  justitication  by  faith,  "  which  is  a  straoge  thing  in 
Norfolk,"  he  writes.     *'  So  I  took  some  pains  to  explain  and 


PILMOOR  IN   TOWN   AND   COUNTRY  IN  VIRGINIA     353 

confirm  it,  both  by  the  Scriptures  and  the  doctrinal  articles  of 
the  Church."  On  October  seventeenth  he  preached  on  "  I 
will  show  thee  my  faith  by  my  works,"  and  trusted  that  he 
convinced  his  hearers  that  they  were  mistaken  in  charging 
him  "  with  being  an  enemy  to  good  works." 

He  now  went  with  a  Mr.  Randall  to  New  Mill  Creek, 
about   fifteen  miles    from   Norfolk.     He  preached,  and  the 
people  desired  hiui  to  give  them  another  sermon,  which  he 
did  in  about  an  hour,  and  even  then,  he  says,  "  they  were  un- 
willing to  part ;  so  many  of  them  went  with  me  to  see  two 
very  old  people  who  are  sick,"  and  whom  "  I  found  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  plan  of  salvation  than  most  I  have  met 
with  in  Virginia.     We  all  united  in  calling  upon  God."     The 
last  day  of  this  week— October  21,  1772— he  preached  at  a 
Mr.  Wilkins's ;  "  the  hearts  of  the  people  melted,  and  tears 
flowed  abundantly  from  their  eyes."     He  then  went  to  Ports- 
mouth and  preached  "  with  zeal  and  power,"  and  the  next 
morning-Sunday-preached  there  again.     In  the  afternoon 
he  addressed  "  a  vast  congregation  at  Norfolk." 

He  started  again  for  the  country  the  next  day,  and 
preached  at  Captain  O'Connor's,  whither  he  went  on  a  boat. 
The  following  day  he  preached  at  Mrs.  Buxton's,  at  Naney- 
mond  where  he  had  been  before,  and  the  ensuing  day  he 
preached  again,  after  which  he  went  to  Mr.  Hughes's,  where 
he  met  the  largest  congregation  he  had  ever  seen  m  that 
place  Next  day  he  dined  with  Mr.  Sproul,  the  merchant,  at 
Gosport,  and  in  the  evening  preached  to  a  large  audience. 
The  day  after  this  he  returned  to  Norfolk  and  preached  on 

justification  by  faith. 

Thus  Pilmoor  continued  to  abound  m  labor  day  by  day, 
in  to^^Ti  and  country.  On  the  thirteenth  of  November  1772, 
he  preached  at  the  Great  Bridge  to  many  people.  "  All  were 
deeply  serious,"  he  says,  "and  stood  quietly  till  I  had  done, 
when  I  had  much  conversation  with  one  who  is  troubled  m 
mind,  whom  I  endeavored  to  lead  to  Christ.  As  most  of  the 
congregation  stood  by  w4iile  I  was  speaking  with  her,  I  de- 
sired them  all  to  join  with  me  in  prayer  for  her.  We  kneeled 
down  upon  the  grass,  and  God  gave  me  great  freedom  ot 
23 


354 


THE  WESLEYAX   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


mind  to  plead  with  him  for  her,  and  I  left  her  in  hope  of 
salvation."  The  next  day  he  returned  to  Portsmouth,  and  at 
night  "  had  a  vast  multitude  to  hear,  to  whom  "  he  "ex- 
plained the  Eules  of  the  Society." 

We  come  now  to  an  important  day  in  the  history  of  Vir- 
ginia, namely,  the  organization  of  the  first  two  Methodist 
Societies  within  its  borders  of  which  we  have  record.  Kob- 
ert  Williams  was  in  Virginia  before  Pilmoor,  and  lie  brought 
"  a  flaming  account  of  the  work  there  "  to  Philadelphia  in 
the  spring  of  1772.*  But  while  Williams  preached  in  Vir- 
ginia somewhat  in  advance  of  Pilmoor,  it  does  not  appear 
that  he  formed  any  societies  within  its  bounds  until  1774. 
Lee  assigns  the  beginning  of  Williams's  work  in  Norfolk  to 
the  early  part  of  the  year  1772,  which,  no  doubt,  is  the  cor- 
rect date,  save  that  in  the  summer  of  1769,  immediately  after 
landing  from  Europe,  he  opened  his  ministry  in  America  in 
that  town,  as  Ave  have  seen,  from  the  steps  of  a  vacant  house. 
His  appearance  there  in  1772,  as  described  by  Jesse  Lee,  was 
very  much  like  the  opening  of  his  mission  there  in  17G9,  as 
described  by  Dr.  Dallam,  of  Maryland. t  Concerning  his 
appearance  in  Norfolk  in  the  early  part  of  1772,  Jesse  Lee 
says  :  "  Without  any  previous  notice  being  given,  he  went  to 
the  court-house.  Standing  on  the  steps  and  beginning  to 
sing,  the  people  collected  together.  After  prayer,  he  took 
his  text  and  preached  to  a  considerable  number  of  hearers, 
who  were  very  disorderly.:}:  They  all  thought  the  preacher 
was  a  madman,  and  while  he  was  preaching  the  people  were 
laughing,  talking,  and  walking  about  in  all  directions.  The 
general  conclusion  was  that  they  never  heard  such  a  man  be- 
fore, for  they  said  sometimes  he  would  preach,  then  he  would 
pray,  then  he  would  swear,  and  at  times  he  would  cry.  The 
people  were  so  little  used  to  hearing  a  preacher  say  hell  or 
devil  in  preaching  that  they  thought  he  w^as  swearing  when 
he  told  them  about  going  to  hell  or  being  damned  if  they 
died  in  their  sins.    As  he  was  believed  to  be  a  madman  none 


♦See  Asbnry's  Journal,  Vol.  I.,  page  28. 
+  See  pages  102-104,  inclusive. 
J  See  page  359. 


WHO   FOUNDED   METHODISM   IN   VIRGINIA? 


355 


of  them  invited  him  to  their  houses.  However,  he  preached 
at  the  same  place  the  next  day,  when  they  found  out  he  was 
not  insane,  and  they  were  glad  to  get  Mm  to  their  houses. 
This  may  be  considered  the  beginning  of  Methodism  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  it  was  not  long  before  a  Methodist  Society  was 
formed  in  the  town  of  Norfolk."*  ,     .,.  , 

Nearly  a  year  passed  after  Williams  began  his  fruitful 
labors  in  Virginia,  in  1772,  before  there  was  a  society  in  Nor- 
folk     Williams  did  not  found  one,  nor  did  any  exist  until  tour 
months  lacking  one  day  after  Pilmoor  opened  his  ministry  m 
that  town.     This  shows  us  that  preaching  steadily  for  weeks 
or  months  in  a  place  where  Methodism  was  unknown  was  one 
thin-  and  the  formation  of  a  society  from  such  hearers  was 
another.     Embury  quickly  formed  a  society  after  he  began  to 
preach  in  New  York,  but  the  persons  who  composed  it  at  hrst 
were  mostly,  if  not  wholly,  like  himself,  Methodist  immigrants 
from  Ireland,  who  were  aroused  to  a  renewal  of  their  consecra- 
tion by  Barbara  Heck.    As  it  was  nearly  a  year  from  the  time 
Williams  began  preaching  in  Norfolk  in  1772,  with  Pilmoor 
following  him,  before  a  society  was  formed  there,  it  is  highly 
probable  that  Strawbridge  had  to  preach  a  while  in  Maryland 
before  he  brought  a  Methodist  society  into  existence  at  Pipe 
Creek.      Ploughmg   and   sowing  precede    the    shocking   of 

sheaves 

Lee'apparently  did  not  know  the  date  of  the  origin  of  the 

society  in  Norfolk.     He  apparently  supposed  that  A\ilhams 

formed  it,  but  does  not  distinctly  say  so.     His  biographer, 

Dr  LeroyM.  Lee,  however,  inaccurately  says  Wilhams  formed 

a  society  in  Norfolk  in  1772.t  Bennett,  in  his  "Memorials  of 

Methodism  in  Virginia,"  says  :  "  To  Robert  Williams  belongs 

the  honor  of  planting  Methodism  in  Virginia."     An  example 

of  the  errors  which  have  crept  into  nearly  all  of  the  histories 

of  Methodism  in  this  country  is  that  which  Bishop  McTyeire 

has  set  forth  as  follows  :  "  Pilmoor  went  southward.    From 

Norfolk  he  extended  his  trip  to  Charleston  and  Savannah. 

No  societies  were  planted  by  him."  t     'Dr.  Stevens  says  Will- 

*  History  of  Methodism,  p.  40.  t  Life  and  Times  of  Jesse  Lee,  p.  45. 

X  McTyeire's  History  of  Methodism,  pp.  296-39 1. 


356 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


iams  was  the  "  founder  of  Methodism  in  Virginia  "  and  im- 
plies that  he  founded  it  in  Norfolk.* 

Pilmoor  did  found  societies  in  the  South,  as  we  shall  now 
see,  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  Williams  formed  any  in 
Virginia,  until  about  the  time  that  Pilmoor  and  Boardman 
left  the  country  and  returned  to  England.  Jesse  Lee  dis- 
tinctly says  that  ''  in  the  beginning  of  1774,  Eobert  Williams 
began  to  form  societies  in  Virginia,  and  made  out  a  plan  for  a 
six  weeks'  circuit,  which  extended  from  Petersburg  over  Ptoan- 
oke  Kiver  some  distance  into  North  Carolina."  t 

The  precise  time  of  the  actual  founding  of  Methodism  in 
Virginia  has  not  hitherto  been  known.  The  discovery  of  Pil- 
moor's  manuscript  narrative  of  his  ministry  in  this  country, 
under  Mr.  Wesley,  has  established  many  facts  Avhich  were  not 
previously  confirmed.  It  has  also  brought  to  our  knowledge 
many  significant  and  interesting  things  concerning  of  which 
nothing  was  known.  Among  these  is  the  fact  that  he,  and  not 
Eobert  Williams,  founded  Methodism  south  of  the  Potomac. 
The  first  society  in  Virginia  of  which  there  is  any  record  was 
not  in  Norfolk,  but  in  Portsmouth.  It  was  formed  on  the 
fourteenth  day  of  November,  1772.  Of  its  origin  Pilmoor 
gives  the  following  account : 

"  Had  a  vast  multitude  [in  Portsmouth]  to  hear  me  read 
and  explain  the  Rules  of  the  Society.  When  I  had  done,  as 
they  have  been  deeply  convinced  of  their  need  of  a  Saviour 
and  are  truly  desirious  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  I 
joined  twenty-seven  of  them  who  are  determined  to  seek  the 
Lord  while  he  may  be  found." 

The  society  at  Norfolk  was  formed  two  days  later.  Of  that 
event,  so  interesting  and  potent  in  the  history  of  Southern 
Methodism,  Pilmoor  furnishes  the  account  which  here  fol- 
lows : 

*' Thursday,  16  [November,  1772].  Having  proposed  to 
form  a  society  in  Norfolk  I  went  to  the  preaching  house  and 
gave  an  exhortation  on  the  nature  and  necessity  of  meeting 
together  to  help  build  each  other  up  in  the  faith  of  the  gos- 

*  Stevens's  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  85,  87,  290. 
t  Lee's  History  of  the  Methodists,  p.  51. 


PILMOOR   FOUNDS   METHODISM   IN   NORFOLK,  VA.     357 

pel  I  then  withdrew  to  Captain  Carson's,  where  I  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  society  by  joining  twenty-six  of  them  together, 
who  are  likely  to  war  a  good  warfare  and  obtain  the  victory 
throuoh  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  This  makes  my  heart  right 
glad  Tnd  causes  me  to  rejoice  in  God  my  Saviour.  I  have 
long  wept  and  prayed  that  God  would  raise  up  a  people  m 
this  place,  and  now  my  prayer  is  answered,  and  I  clap  my 
hands  exultingly  in  Hallelujahs  to  the  Lord,  the  Kmg." 

The  two  societies  which  Joseph  Pilmoor  organized  in  the 
twin  cities  of  Portsmouth  and  Norfolk  on  Tuesday  and  Thurs- 
day  respectively,  November  fourteenth  and  sixteenth,  1772, 
are  believed  to  have  been  the  first  in  Yirginia-at  least  there 
is  no  record  of  any  societies  that  were  earlier.     Dr.  Stevens 
says  Williams  "did  for  Methodism  in  Virginia  what  Embury 
did  for  it  in  New  York  and  Strawbridge  in  Maryland,"  -  which 
is  saying  that  he  founded  it  there.    Stevens  also  declares  that 
the  societv  in  Norfolk  was  "  the  germ  of  the  denoinmation  in 
the  State ;  "  t  therefore,  as  he  asserts  that  Wilhams  founded 
Methodism  in  Virginia,  and  also  that  the  Norfolk  society  was 
its  germ,  he  in  effect  asserts  that  Williams  formed  that  soci- 
ety.    We  now  know  that  this  is  incorrect.     The  errors  which 
so  long  have  been  rife  on  this  subject  are  now  dissipated  by 
the  ha'^nd  of  Pilmoor,  from  whom  we  derive  the  facts  respect- 
ing the  origin  of  Methodism  in  Portsmouth  and  Norfolk.     We 
witness  the  scenes,  we  see  the  preacher  welcoming  the  candi- 
dates and   joining  them  in  sacred  fellowship  according  to 

Methodism. 

In  the  autumn  of  1772  William  Watters  went  forth  to 
preach.  He  has  narrated  the  circumstances  attending  his  en- 
trance upon  the  itinerancy  in  his  volume  of  interesting  remi- 
niscences. Besides  the  other  valuable  services  he  rendered 
to  American  Methodism,  Eobert  Williams  introduced  A\  at^- 
ters  into  its  ministry.  Watters  says  :  "  Being  fully  persuaded 
of  my  call  to  the  ministry,  and  that  it  was  my  duty  to  go 
wherever  a  kind  Providence  should  point  out  the  way,  I  cheer- 
fully accepted  the  invitation  of  that    pious  seiwant  of  the 

*  Stevens's  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Vol.  I.,  p.  87. 
tibid.,  p.  85. 


358         "  THE   WESLEY  AN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 

Lord,  Eobert  Williams,  and  set  out  with  him  and  under  his 
care  in  October,  1772,  for  Norfolk,  in  Virginia,  being  just 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  having  known  the  Lord  seventeen 
months,  and  been  exhorting  about  five  or  six." 

They  held  meetings  in  several  places  before  they  reached 
Baltimore,  where  they  passed  the  Sabbath.  There  Watters 
preached,  which  was  "the  third  time,"  he  says,  "of  my 
speaking  from  a  text."  Asbury  had  not  then  seen  Baltimore, 
but  not  long  afterwards  he  made  his  first  appearance  in  that 
part  of  Maryland  where  Pilmoor  labored  the  preceding  sum- 
mer. 

From  Baltimore  Williams  and  Watters  proceeded  south- 
ward. At  Bladenburg,  says  Watters,  "  the  landlord  was  ex- 
ceedingly attentive  to  us,  and  received  a  word  of  exhortation 
with  apparent  thankfulness,  but  appeared  a  stranger  to 
heart-religion."  At  Georgetown  Williams  preached  one 
evening  "  to  a  large  room  full  of  the  inhabitants."  Thence 
they  crossed  the  Potomac  to  Virginia,  and  went  by  way  of 
Alexandria  to  King  William  Court  House.  There  a  Mr. 
Martin  invited  them  to  lodgings,  and  also  to  preach  the  fol- 
lowing day,  which  was  the  Sabbath.  Watters  says  "Mr. 
Williams  preached  there  in  the  forenoon,  and  at  the  Court 
House  in  the  afternoon.  The  congregations,  seeing  they  had 
but  a  few  hours'  notice,  were  tolerably  large,  but  discovered 
great  ignorance  of  experimental  religion."  They  found  Mrs. 
Martin,  the  wife  of  their  host,  "  under  some  awakenings,  and 
endeavored  to  advise  and  encourage  her."  A  near  neighbor 
invited  them  to  lodge  with  him,  and  showed  them  "  all  the 
hospitality  of  a  Virginian."  As  they  journeyed  thence  Will- 
iams preached  several  times,  "  and  made  it  a  point,"  says 
Watters,  "  to  introduce  religious  conversation  at  every  con- 
venient opportuity  as  we  rode  or  sat  at  the  fireside  in  tav- 
erns and  in  private  houses.  We  found  very  few  in  the  course 
of  three  hundred  miles  who  knew  experimentally  anything  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Watters  does  not  give  the  date  of  their  arrival  at  Norfolk, 
but  Pilmoor  tells  us  that  it  was  November  18,  1772.  The 
day  after  he  formed  the  Norfolk  Society  Pilmoor  spent  the 


AKRIVAL   OF   WILLIAMS   AND   WATTERS   IN   NORFOLK     359 

morning  in  study,  and  afterward  visited  the  family  of  Cap- 
tain Campbell,  in  Norfolk,  where  he  found  several  more  who 
desired  to  be  received  into  the  society.  He  preached  in  the 
evening  and  the  next  day,  Saturday,  November  18th,  "I 
went  over  the  water  with  Mr.  W^illiams  and  Mr.  Watters, 
who  arrived  here  to-day,"  says  Pilmoor.  They  met  the 
society  "  over  the  water,"  *  though  not  in  private,  and  Pil- 
moor admitted  several  new  members. 

Williams  and  Watters  were  received  by  the  Norfolk 
friends  very  kindly.  The  latter,  however,  was  not  favorably 
impressed  by  the  religious  tone  of  the  Methodists  at  Norfolk, 
who  had  just  been  united  into  a  society.  Pilmoor  strove  to 
check  what  he  deemed  the  excessive  exhibitions  of  fervor  by 
the  Methodists  in  Maryland,  among  whom  Watters  lived ; 
and  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  he  did  not  train  his  Vir- 
ginia converts  after  their  model. 

"  Such  Methodists,"  Watters  declares,  "I  had  never  seen, 
nor  did  I  suppose  there  were  such  upon  earth.     My  experi- 
ence and  warm  feelings  led  me  to  conclude  that  all  who  bore 
the  name  must  be  like  those  with  whom  I  had  been  ac- 
quainted in  the  neighborhood  I  had  left.     Many  hundreds 
attended  preaching,  but  were  the  most  hardened,  wild,  and 
ill-behaved  of  any  people  I  had  ever  beheld."     He  thought 
the  prospect  was  better  in  Portsmouth,  but  did  not  think  the 
work  was  very  thorough  in  either  town.     The  ardent  young 
preacher  did  not  sufficiently  appreciate  the  condition  of  those 
whom  he  criticised,  who  were  but  just  becoming  acquainted 
with  Methodism.     We  can  see  how  Watters  quickly  received 
an  unfavorable  impression  of  the  Norfolk  people.     Pilmoor 
savs  that  on  the  twentieth  of  November,  1772,  he  "  had  a 
comfortable  meeting  with  the  preachers  at  Mr.  Stephenson's. 
In  the  evening  Mr.  Williams  preached,  but  the  people  dis- 
liked him  so  that  they  made  a  most  horrible  noise,  so  that  I 
was  obliged  to  go  and  sit  among  them  to  keep  them  in  order. 
When  they  saw  me  they  were  ashamed,  and  behaved  very 
well  the  rest  of  the  time."     Such  rude  behavior  by  a  congre- 

*  This  I  understand  to  have  been  Portsmouth,  which  is  ^'over  the  water"  of 
the  Elizabeth  River  from  Norfolk. 


360 


THE   WE5LEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


gation  was  not  calculated  to  give  a  fervent  young  itinerant  a 
very  favorable  opinion  of  their  piety.  This  occasion  was 
only  two  days  after  the  arrival  of  Williams,  and  the  dislike 
shown  to  him,  therefore,  must  have  been  excited  in  them 
when  he  was  in  Norfolk  previously,  at  which  time,  as  we 
have  seen,  they  inferred  from  his  language  and  manner  in  his 
introductory  sermon  that  he  was  not  in  his  right  mind.* 

Williams  preached  in  the  morning  after  his  arrival,  which 
was  Sunday,  November  19,  1772,  and  Pilmoor  preached  at 
Norfolk  the  same  night  to  a  congregation  Avhich  was  "  very 
large,  and  wild  enough  in  the  beginning,  but  a  solemn  awe 
soon  seized  upon  them,  and  all  were  still  until  the  sermon 
was  done."  The  last  Sunday  night  of  November  Pilmoor 
preached  at  Norfolk  to  a  very  large  assembly,  and  the  next 
day  he  "  devofced  to  study  and  to  visiting  the  people,  whom 
God  has  awakened."  The  day  after  this  he  preached  in 
Portsmouth,  where,  he  declares,  "  prejudice  is  generally  re- 
moved, and  the  people  gladly  receive  the  truth.  Wednesday, 
as  Mr.  Williams  was  to  preach,  I  was  glad  to  take  my  place 
among  the  people  to  prevent  confusion,  and  had  the  happi- 
ness to  see  them  behave  pretty  well  till  near  the  conclusion, 
when  some  of  them  were  a  little  noisy,  but  nothing  like  what 
was  expected."  The  Norfolk  audiences,  it  seems,  were  prone 
to  be  rowdyish  when  Williams  addressed  them. 

Watters  "set  off  for  the  country  to  preach"  on  the 
twenty-third  of  November,  and  Pilmoor  "met  the  society 
and  joined  four  new  members,  who  bid  fair  for  the  kingdom 
of  heaven."  Afterward  two  men  invited  him  to  preach  at 
Pasquatauk,  in  North  Carolina. 

In  relation  to  the  prospect  in  this  Southern  field,  and  of 
the  importance  of  staying  to  nurture  the  germinating  seed 
of  the  word,  Pilmoor  thus  speaks :  "  The  longer  I  stay  in 
these  parts  the  more  I  am  desired  to  preach,  and  have  by  far 
the  greater  success.  Frequent  changes  among  gospel  preach- 
ers may  keep  up  the  spirits  of  some  kinds  of  people,  but  are 
never  likely  to  promote  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  nor  increase 
true  religion.     Had  I  left  Norfolk  when  some  persons  would 

*  See  pages  354-;355. 


PILMOOR  PREPARING  TO   GO   FURTHER  SOUTH       361 

have  had  me,  I  should  have  formed  no  society,  either  there  or  at 
Portsmouth.     Now  we  have  a  goodly  company  in  each  place." 
Watters  left  the  town  after  a  few  weeks,  "  and  went  into 
the  country  to  form,  if  possible,  a  small  circuit,  but  was  soon 
much  discouraged  to  see  the  stupid  blindness  and  the  brutal 
wickedness  of  'the  people."     Yet  he  was  treated  in  the  main 
respectfully,  and  met  with   little    opposition.     "My  soul," 
says  Watters,  "  longed  day  and  night  to  see  the  words  of  the 
Lord  sinking  deep  into  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  until 
this  was  the  case  I  could  but  mourn  and  give  myself  to  fast- 
ing and  prayer.     In  a  few  places  I  met  with  some  little  en- 
couragement,  and  a  few  faithful,   though  afflicted,  friends, 
with  whom  I  often  took  sweet  counsel.      My  good  friend, 
William  Owen,  was  one  of  my  great  confidants,  and  often  re- 
freshed my  spirits.     His  house  was  at  all  times  a  home  for  me 
while  in  a  distant  country."     With  this  gentleman  Pilmoor 
also  enjoyed  pleasant   intercourse,  and  found  hospitality  in 

his  country  home. 

Pilmoor  soon  left  Norfolk  and  journeyed  southward. 
Watters's  narrative  is  not  well  punctuated  with  dates,  there- 
fore it  is  less  useful  to  the  historian  than  otherwise  it  would 
be.  He  errs  in  saying  that  Pilmoor  started  from  Norfolk  for 
the  remote  South  "in  the  latter  part  of  the  winter;"  he 
should  have  said  in  the  early  part  of  it.  Watters  probably 
wrote  from  memory  many  years  after  the  event.  Another 
example  is  this  of  the  persistent  faultiness  of  tradition. 

The  last  day  of  November,  1772,  Pilmoor  was  preparing 
for  his  journey  to  South  Carolina,  but  was  still  subjected  to 
delay.  "  I  have  been  waiting  here  for  several  weeks,"  he 
writes,  "  but  something  or  other  has  always  happened  to  keep 
me  in  these  parts  longer  than  I  intended.  I  am  resigned,  as 
I  hope  it  is  the  guiding  hand  of  the  Lord.  Friday  [Decem- 
ber 1],  after  visiting  the  people,  I  preached  in  the  evening 
with  great  freedom.  Saturday  I  preached  in  Portsmouth, 
and  found  the  people  in  a  prosperous  way  and  greatly  con- 
firmed in  the  doctrines  of  grace.  My  heart  begins  to  unite 
with  these  dear  affectionate  people  more  than  ever." 

Eobert  Williams  had  an  appointment  "  over  the  water" 


862 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


on  December  fifth,  and  Pilmoor  went  to  hear  him.  "  When 
he  saw  me,"  says  the  latter,  "  he  would  not  preach,  so  I  was 
obliged  to  preach  for  him.  Afterward  I  spent  the  evening  at 
Colonel  Yeal's,  where  I  am  as  happy  as  if  I  belonged  to 
the  family."  When  Pilmoor  returned  he  found  that  Mr. 
Taylor  had  brought  him  a  single-horse  chaise,  with  which  he 
was  "to  travel  to  Charleston."  This  was  necessary,  he  says, 
"  as  I  shall  be  obliged  to  carry  provender  for  the  horse  and 
food  for  myseK,  on  account  of  the  long  and  dreary  stages 
through  the  woods.  The  following  day  I  was  much  taken  up 
in  preparing  for  my  journey  to  the  South,  and  settling  things 
relating  to  the  work  of  the  Lord  in  these  parts." 

Pilmoor  preached  at  Portsmouth  on  Sunday  morning,  the 
twelfth  of  December,  1772.  The  same  night  at  Norfolk, 
"  notwithstanding  the  severe  cold,  we  had  a  very  large  con- 
gregation," he  writes,  "  to  hear  my  farewell  sermon.  My 
heart  was  greatly  affected  at  the  thought  of  leaving  them." 

The  labors  of  that  Sunday  being  over,  in  the  retirement 
ment  of  his  chamber,  amid  the  silence  of  night,  Pilmoor  se- 
riously and  gratefully  reviewed  the  period  he  had  spent  in 
Norfolk.  "I  found  great  cause  of  thankfulness,"  he  says, 
"  (1)  that  I  had  been  enabled  to  preach  the  whole  counsel  of 
God  without  being  moved  by  the  fear  of  man  ;  (2)  that  I 
was  clear  of  the  blood  of  sinners ;  (3)  that  I  have  been  pre- 
served by  the  grace  of  God  from  sinning  against  him  and 
dishonoring  his  cause ;  (4)  that  I  have  not  labored  in  vain. 
The  face  of  things  is  wonderfully  changed  for  the  better,  and 
near  forty  persons  are  joined  in  society,  most  of  whom  will  I 
trust  be  my  crown  of  rejoicing  in  the  day  of  the  Lord." 

He  took  leave  of  his  "  weeping  friends  "  in  Norfolk,  Mon- 
day, December  13,  1772,  and  the  same  evening  "  preached 
my  farewell  sermon  in  Portsmouth,"  he  writes.  "  I  had  great 
engagedness  of  heart,  and  continued  preaching  near  two  hours 
to  a  people  who  seem  as  if  they  would  continue  till  the  break 
of  day  hearing  the  word  and  wrestling  with  God  in  prayer." 
The  following  day,  December  14,  1772,  in  company  with 
Eobert  Williams,  he  ate  breakfast  at  Colonel  Veal's  and  pro- 
ceeded on  his  journey  southward,  preaching  as  he  went. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

PILMOOR'S    journey   to   CHARLESTON   AND   SAVANNAH. 

Pilmoor  was  still  following  his  "  tutelary  cloud."  Reach- 
ing the  residence  of  Mr.  Hughes,  many  friends  who  heard  ot 
his  arrival  went  thither,  and  after  singing  and  prayer  they 
affectionately  parted.  Pushing  on,  he  came  to  New  Mil 
Creek,  fifteen  miles  from  Norfolk,  where  he  passed  the  night 
in  the  home  of  a  Mr.  Jeffrey.  . 

Here  he  felt  the  magnitude  of  the  adventure  upon  which 
he  had  entered,  but  was  undismayed.  '^  The  difficulties  before 
me  appeared  very  great,"  he  writes,  ^'  but  my  trust  was  m 
God  and  he  will  provide."  The  next  day  he  reached  Mr. 
Randle's,  where  he  "preached  and  the  word  was  sent  with 
power  to  the  hearts  of  the  people."  After  they  had  dined 
Mr.  Randle  accompanied  him  "to  a  place  about  fifteen  miles 
further  towards   Carolina,"  and  all  the  way  they  published 

preaching  for  the  next  day.  .     -,     •  x      u 

Not   having   a  private   room   Pilmoor   retired    into   the 
woods  the  next  day  for  devotion.     About  noon  he  preaclied, 
but  feared  that  "the  poor  ignorant  people"  knew  but  little 
about  even  the  rudiments  of  Christianity.    He  dmed  at  a  Mr. 
Sylvester's,  and  also  preached  there  in  the  evening  "  to  a  good 
congregation."     The  following  day  he  went  to  Colonel  WiU- 
iams's,  where  he  always  met  "  the  most  friendly  reception. 
On  Sunday  he  preached  in  a  court-house  in  North  Carolina 
and  he  tells  us  that  several  of  the  people  were  so  affected 
that  they  fainted  away,  and  all  were  as  solemn  as  death. 
The  day  ensuing  he  preached  at  a  chapel,  and  the  next  day 
set  off  for  Indiantown,  where  he  met  the  Rev.  Mr.  Abbott  a 
Baptist  minister,  who  had  invited  him  to  visit   his  people. 
He  had  a  fine  congregation  in  the  evening,  "  and  the  Lord  was 


364 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


present."  The  next  day  lie  preached  "  to  a  vast  multitude  of 
Predestinarians,  but  resolved  not  to  grieve  them,  and  so 
dwelt  upon  experimental  religion.  The  people  were  serious 
and  thankful  for  the  Avord."  Welcoming  the  opportunities  of 
another  day,  he  hastened  eight  miles,  and  by  the  Eev.  Mr. 
Abbott's  appointment,  he  preached  a  funeral  sermon  on  "  Be 
ye  therefore  Keady  "  to  "  a  great  multitude."  Crossing  the 
river  at  Harford  Ferry,  he  drove  over  a  very  intricate  road 
through  the  woods  to  a  place  where  he  tarried  all  night  and 
preached  in  a  chapel  on  Sunday  morning.  In  the  afternoon 
he  went  to  Edenton,  North  Carolina,  "and  preached  in  the 
court-house  to  a  great  many  people  on  '  What  Think  Ye  of 
Christ  ?  ' "  On  Monday  he  had  several  gentlemen  breakfast 
with  him  who  had  frequently  heard  him  in  New  York.  It 
is  very  apparent  that  his  sermons  in  that  city  and  Philadel- 
phia had  echoed  widely  over  the  land,  and  contributed  to 
his  comfort  and  usefulness  in  the  South.  Breakfast  and 
company  over,  he  preached  at  eleven  o'clock  in  Edenton  to  a 
large  audience.  *'  The  word  was  sent  with  power  to  many 
hearts  and  caused  them  to  w^eep  for  their  sins."  He 
found  the  church  at  Edenton  "  a  poor,  damp,  dirty  place, 
where  they  have  preaching  only  once  in  three  weeks."  Here 
the  tavern-keeper  declined  compensation  for  Pilmoor's  enter- 
tainment. He  journeyed  forward  and  lodged  at  another  place, 
and  the  next  morning  reached  Bath  in  time  for  breakfast. 
At  Bath  he  "  found  a  pretty  little  church,"  but  says  "  the 
parish,  like  many  others,  has  no  minister;  I  have  passed 
through  four  counties,  and  am  now  in  the  fifth,  and  not  one 
Church  minister  in  them  all."  This  was  in  North  Carolina. 
Of  this  province  Pilmoor  wrote  :  "  It  is  200  miles  wide,  and  is 
settled  near  400  miles  in  length  from  the  sea,  and  the  Church 
established  as  in  England,  yet  in  all  this  country  there  are 
but  eleven  ministers."  Surely  there  was  need  for  the  Wes- 
leyan  itinerant  in  the  South.  There  can  be  but  little  doubt 
that  Methodism  preserved  the  greater  part  of  that  beautiful 
region  from  a  state  of  semi-barbarism,  as  it  did  also  the 
western  frontiers. 

Crossing  a  ferry,  which  consumed  about  an  hour  and  a 


PILMOOR  PLEASED   WITH  NEW   BERNE,  N.  C, 


365 


half,  Pilmoor  hastened  to  a  Mr.  Moor's.     The  next  day,  De- 
cemlDer  24, 1772,  he  drove  with  difficulty  through  the  woods  to 
New  Berne.    "  This,"  he  declares,  "  has  been  the  most  trying 
day  I  have  had  since  I  left  Norfolk."     He  attended  church  in 
New  Berne  on  Christmas-day,  and  says  that  he    "heard  a 
sensible,  useful   sermon.     Afterward  the   Lord   greatly   re- 
freshed my  soul  at  the  sacrament.     In  the  afternoon  I  sent 
for  a  man  whom  I  had  been  told  was  a  hearer  of  the  Metho- 
dists in  London   and   desired  him  to  apply  for  the  court- 
house, which  was  readily  granted.    I  sent  a  person  about  the 
town  to  inform  the  inhabitants  that  I  should  preach  at  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening.     At  the  time  appointed  I  went  to  the 
court-house  and  had  the  genteelest  congregation  I  have  seen 
since  I  left  Philadelphia.     Some  of  them  invited  me  to  their 
houses  and  behaved  with  the  utmost  politeness." 

At  New  Berne  he  dined  with  Mr.  Edwards,  Secretary  of 
the  Governor,  and  "  was  treated  with  the  highest  respect. 
In  the  evening  most  of  the  genteel  people  in  the  town  at- 
tended the  preaching."  Pilmoor  was  entertained  at  breakfast 
and  dinner  by  several  gentlemen  in  New  Berne  with  marked 
courtesy.  He  spent  a  week  there  preaching  to  large  audi- 
ences. 

He  was  delighted  with  the  society  he  met  in  this  town. 
"  In  all  my  travels  through  the  world  I  have  met  with  none 
like  the  people  of  New  Berne,"  he  exclaims.    "  Instead  of  go- 
ing to  balls  and  assemblies,  as  the  people  of  fashion  do,  es- 
pecially at  this  season  of  the  year,  they  come  driving  in  their 
coaches  to  hear  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  wait  upon  God 
in  his  ordinances  ;  and  their  behavior  to'  me  at  the  last  was 
such  as  I  cannot  pass  over  in  silence  without  ingi-atitude. 
The  morning  I  was  to  leave  town  two  gentlemen  waited  on 
me  and  delivered  me  a  letter  in  which  several  small  bills  of 
North  Carolina  money  were  inclosed,  which  the  gentlemen 
sent  me  as  a  token  of  their  love  and  respect.     Thus  the  Lord 
prepares  my  way  before  me  and  my  wants  are  all  supplied. 
I  set  off  on  this  journey  trusting  in  Providence  alone,  and 
hitherto  I  have  wanted  nothing." 

Pilmoor  left  New  Beme,  January  1,  1773,  and  went  for- 


366 


THE   WESLEYAI^   MOVEMENT   IN"   AMERICA 


ward  about  17  miles  to  Fox's  tavern.  There,  seeing  many 
people  walking  about,  he  spoke  to  several  about  their  salva- 
tion, and  proposed  to  join  with  them  **  in  singing  and  prayer, 
to  which  they  readily  assented."  He  "  was  greatly  blessed  in 
calling  on  God  for  them." 

Travel  was  difficult  and  attended  with  anxiety  and  indeed 
with  danger.  "As  I  have  no  guide,"  he  writes,  "and  am 
totally  unacquainted  with  the  road,  it  is  rather  disagreeable 
travelling  in  the  woods  in  the  night."  The  following  day 
night  overtook  him,  and  it  was  long  after  dark  before  he 
could  find  a  place  to  lodge.  At  Mr.  Collier's,  fifteen  miles 
from  Wilmington,  he  found  entertainment  at  last.  When  he 
left  New  Berne  excessive  rains  had  removed  a  bridge  so  that 
he  adopted  the  expedient  of  placing  planks  across  the 
stream,  on  which  he  put  the  wheels  of  his  chaise,  and  so  took 
it  over  and  then  returned  for  his  horse. 

Our  traveller  reached  Wilmington,  N.  C,  Sunday,  January 
3, 1773.  He  found  there  a  young  man  who  had  been  a  member 
of  the  society  in  Philadelpliia,  and  he,  with  a  sea-captain  who 
had  seen  Pilmoor  in  the  North,  published  preaching  for  him. 
That  evening  he  preached  to  a  large  congregation.  The  next 
evening  he  proclaimed  his  message  in  the  court-house.  For 
a  few  days  he  tarried  at  Wilmington,  and  was  entertained  at 
a  public  house.  The  landlord  declined  compensation  and 
urged  him  to  stay  longer.  Gladly  would  he  have  done  so,  as 
there  were  many  people  in  that  town,  but  he  felt  that  he 
must  hasten  to  Charleston.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  sixth 
day  of  the  year  1773  he  left  Wilmington,  but  found  the 
roads  so  bad  that  he  "  was  obliged  to  stop  by  the  way."  He 
reached  Brunswick,  N.  C,  the  ensuing  day,  and  the  next  day 
he  preached  in  the  church  to  a  fine  congregation.  The  suc- 
ceeding day  (Sunday)  was  "  wet  and  disagreeable  ; "  the  con- 
gregation at  the  church  was  small,  yet  Pilmoor  writes  :  "  God 
enabled  me  to  preach  with  power." 

There  being  no  vessel  ready  to  sail  for  South  Carolina 
the  itinerant  "  set  off  by  land."  After  travelling  about 
twenty  miles  he  reached  the  house  of  a  Baptist,  whose  name 
was  Moor,  with  whom  he  "  had  great  comfort  in  religious 


ADVENTURES   IN   SOUTHERN  TRAVEL 


367 


conversation."  The  next  day  he  rode  forward  through  a 
dreary  woods,  and  saw  nothing  but  trees  for  many  miles. 
The  road  was  good,  "  and  at  length  I  spied  a  little  cottage," 
he  says,  "  about  half  a  mile  from  the  road,  and  was  glad  to 
find  a  few  blades  of  Indian  corn  for  my  horse.  Having  pro- 
vision for  myself  with  me  I  made  out  very  well." 

The   next  day's   journey  was   exceedingly  disagreeable. 

Heavy  sands,  a  terrible  rain-storm,  and  night  travel  made  it 

not  only  difficult  but  perilous.     The  following  day,  January 

15    1773,  was  one  of  peculiar  perplexity.     In  the  mornmg 

- 1  set  forward  for  the  ferry,"  he  says,  "  but  had  not  gone 

far  before  I  broke  one  of  my  wheels.     This  distressed  me 

very  much.     Seeing  a  house  at  a  small  distance  I  went  to 

try  if  I  could  borrow  a  wheel,  which  I  readily  obtained,  and 

it  did  pretty  well.     I  then  went  forward  through  the  woods 

to  the  ferry.     As  it  was  late  they  would  not  put  me  over,  so 

I  was  obliged  to  wait  until  the  next  day.     I  have  travelled 

many  thousands  of  miles  in  England  and  Wales,  and  have 

now  seen  much  of  North  America,  but  this  day's  journey 

has  been  the  most  distressing  of  all." 

His  perils  of  waters  and  his  wanderings  in  wilderness 
solitudes  were  not  over.     The  next  morning,  being  afraid  that 
the  wind  would  rise,  he  resolved  to  cross,  as  soon  as  possible, 
a  river,  which  he  fails  to  designate,  but  which  no  doubt  was 
the  Great  Pedee  Eiver.     ''  We  were  on  the  water  before  sun- 
rise," he  says,  "  and  the  river  is  but  two  miles  over,  yet  the 
wind  blew  so  fresh  that  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  I 
escaped.     I  had  to  pursue  my  way  through  the  woods,  where 
there  was  no  kind  of  road.     At  length  I  got  to  the  road,  and 
after  travelHng  many  miles  came  to  a  little  tavern,  where  I  got 
some  refreshments  for  myself  and  my  horse.     I  then  set  for- 
ward again  and  got  to  Santee  Ferry  just  as  the  boat  was  go- 
incr  off      I  got  over  without  interruption,  but  the  road  from 
thTs  river  to  the  next,  which  is  about  a  mile,  is  the  very  worst 
I  ever  beheld.     I  durst  not  ride  in  the  chaise  at  all,  and 
was  afraid  the  horse  would  break  his  legs  among  the  trees 
that  are  laid  across  the  mud  for  a  road.     But  I  got  safely  over 
and  met  the  other  boat  ready  for  me.     I  went  on  board  and 


368 


THE   WESLEYA;N^   movement  in   AMERICA 


got  over  just  before  the  night  came  on.  I  waded  through 
the  water  and  mud  in  many  places.  I  came  to  the  Inn  al- 
most covered  over  with  dirt,  but  I  had  reason  to  praise  my 
God  that  I  had  been  preserved  from  misfortune  when  in 
such  imminent  danger." 

As  he  rode  onward  the  next  day  over  a  very  bad  road  Pil- 
moor  saw  that  his  horse  began  to  fail.  In  this  dilemma 
friendly  aid  came  quickly  to  him.  "  Three  gentlemen  came 
up,"  he  writes,  "  and  one  of  them  told  me  he  would  lend  me 
his  horse  to  draw  me  to  the  public  house  where  I  intended 
to  stay.  So  we  put  his  horse  to  the  chaise  and  he  rode 
with  nie  to  the  place,  where  I  met  with  a  family  of  pious, 
genteel  people,  who  gladly  spent  the  evening  with  me  in 
reading,  singing,  and  prayer.  Here  I  found  a  young  man  in  a 
deep  consumption,  to  whom  I  spoke  with  the  greatest  plain- 
ness of  the  necessity  of  preparing  for  death." 

The  following  day  his  horse  held  out,  with  slow  driving, 
till  he  reached  the  ferry.  From  that  point  our  Wesleyan 
traveller  saw  Charleston,  and  the  same  night,  January  18, 
1773,  he  entered  that  city.  "  It  was  very  dark,"  he  says, 
*'  and  I  was  an  utter  stranger  in  the  town.  I  did  not  know 
what  way  to  go,  but  a  negro  boy  offered  to  go  with  me  to 
Mr.  Crosse's,  a  publican,  to  whom  I  brought  a  letter  from 
Maryland.  It  appeared  to  be  but  an  indifferent  place  ;  how- 
ever, I  was  glad  of  any  place  where  I  could  get  a  little  rest." 

More  than  five  weeks  before  Pilmoor  left  Norfolk.  The 
distance  travelled  probably  was  less  than  four  hundred 
miles.  He  had  made  a  trying  and  laborious  winter  journey 
through  a  country  of  forests,  rivers,  and  of  wide  and  sparsely 
inhabited  savannas,  on  which  fell  the  soft  light  of  a  Southern 
sun.  Now  that  he  was  safe  in  Charleston  he  wrote :  "  My 
way  from  Virginia  has  been  very  rugged  indeed ;  the  trials  1 
have  met  with  very  considerable  ;  my  expenses  very  great ; 
yet  the  Lord  has  not  suffered  me  to  want,  nor  yet  to  be  in 
the  least  discouraged."  Not  content  with  his  surroundings 
at  the  tavern,  Pilmoor  sought  private  lodgings,  which  he  ob- 
tained at  a  Mr.  Swinton's.  As  they  were  professors,  he 
anticipated    joining    with    them    in    family    worship.     But 


PILMOOR  IN   CHARLESTON 


369 


Swinton  told  him  that  as  the  company  in  his  house  was 
mixed,  it  might  not  be  agreeable,  and  that  family  prayer  was 
very  uncommon  in  Charleston.  "  What !  "  exclaimed  Pilmoor, 
" family  prayer  uncommon  among  Presbyterians?"  "It  is 
too  much  neglected,"  was  the  reply.  "You,  sir,  know  what 
is  convenient  in  your  own  house,"  rejoined  the  itinerant,  and 

retired  to  his  room. 

In  Charleston  he  met  with  the  Eev.  Oliver  Hart,  of  whose 
church,  a  few  years  before,  Mary  Thorn,  the  Methodist  hero- 
ine of' Philadelphia,  was  a  member.     He   treated   Pilmoor 
with  fraternal  courtesy  and  invited  him  to  his  pulpit.     He 
was    pastor  of  the  "  Particular,"  as   distinguished  from  the 
*'  General,"  Baptists.     The  two  preachers  met  on  one  occa- 
sion at  a  friend's  dinner-table  in  Charleston,  and  Pilmoor  de- 
scribed Hart  as  "  not  only  sensible,  but  truly  evangelical  and 
very  devout."     The  Wesleyan  preacher  tanied  a  fortnight  m 
the  town  and  preached  thirteen  times.     His  ministry  seems 
to  have   been   very   well   received   in  Charleston,  notwith- 
standing the  repellent  response  he  met  when  he  proposed 
evening  preaching,  namely,  that  "  it  would  be  impracticable 
on  account  of  the  mob."     After  his  arrival  he  went  with  two 
gentlemen  to  a  Mr.  Tou,  who  had  charge  of  the  General  Baptist 
Meeting  House,  which  was  without  a  minister,  to  apply  for  the 
use  of  the  pulpit.    It  was  readily  granted.    There  at  six  in  the 
evening  of  January,  22,  1773,  he  preached  his  first  sermon 
in  the  Palmetto   City.     The  congregation   "was  not   large, 
but  very  serious.     Two  ministers  were  present."     Mr.  Hart 
thanked  him  for  the  sermon. 

Five  days  before  going  away  Pilmoor  gladly  accepted  the 
hospitality  of  a  Baptist,  which  was  offered  him  for  as  long  as 
he  should  continue  in  the  town.  He  enjoyed  his  work  m 
Charleston.  "My  heart  is  greatly  united  with  the  people  of 
this  town,"  he  wrote.  Near  the  close  of  this  visit  he  exclaimed, 
"  Charleston  bids  fair  for  a  revival  of  religion."  The  last 
sermon  he  preached  there  before  leaving  for  Georgia  was  on 
Sunday  evening,  January,  31,  1773.  "  The  house  was  so  full 
it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  I  could  get  to  the  pulpit,"  he 
writes,  "  and  there  were  hundieds  outside  that  could  not  get 
24 


370 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


in  at  all.  I  desired  them  to  open  the  windows,  and  I  be- 
lieve most  of  them  heard  distinctly." 

Leaving  his  horse  to  rest  until  his  return,  Pilmoor 
started,  February  1,  on  "a  poor,  mean,"  borrowed  creature  for 
Savannah.  That  evening  he  "reached  Kantoul's  Bridge," 
having  made  about  sixteen  miles.  The  next  day  he  came  to 
Ashepoo  ;  the  next  to  Allison's  tavern  ;  and  about  noon  of  the 
next  "  to  Purysburg."  The  boat  was  gone  and  Pilmoor  was 
obliged  to  remain  over  night.  The  next  morning  he  "  set  oft' 
very  early.  As  they  had  no  proper  boat  for  horses,  we  were 
glad  to  fasten  the  canoes  together  with  ropes,  and  put  the 
horses'  forefeet  in  the  one  and  the  hinder  feet  in  the  other. 
There  was  a  great  freshet  in  the  river  which  carried  us 
rapidly  down  the  stream  for  seven  miles.  Then  we  had  to 
turn  up  a  creek  and  had  the  stream  against  us,  but  the 
negroes  pulled  very  stoutly,  and  in  about  two  hours  put  me 
safe  ashore.  After  a  little  refreshment  I  hastened  on  and 
about  two  o'clock  [February  5, 17 73 J I  arrived  in  Savannah." 

He  noted  various  points  of  interest,  which  he  describes. 
Savannah,  he  remarks,  stands  "on  a  rising  ground,  on  a 
pretty  good  river  of  the  same  name,  which  is  navigable  up  to 
the  town,  and  carries  on  a  considerable  trade.  There  are 
about  three  thousand  inhabitants,  white  and  black.  The 
houses  are  part  of  brick,  the  rest  of  timber,  not  very  large, 
but  exceedingly  neat.  There  are  three  churches — one  for  the 
English  Episcopalians,  one  for  the  Lutherans,  and  one  for 
the  Independents.  As  the  soil  is  very  sandy  and  the  streets 
not  paved,  it  is  exceedingly  inconvenient  and  disagreeable, 
especially  when  the  weather  is  hot."  John  AVesley  wrote 
from  the  same  town  to  his  mother,  March  18,  1736:  "The 
place  is  pleasant  beyond  imagination,  and  by  all  I  can  learn 
exceedingly  healthful,  even  in  summer,  for  those  who  are  not 
intemperate." 

Pilmoor  attended  a  lecture  at  the  Rev.  Mr.  Zubly's  meet- 
ing in  the  evening  and  handed  to  him  letters  he  had  brought 
from  Charleston.  The  next  day  he  took  up  his  abode  at  Mr. 
Zubly's  house.  The  latter  had  been  prejudiced  against  Mr. 
Wesley  by  the  Circular  Letter  on  the  Ai'minian  Controversy, 


PILMOOR  IN   SAVANNAH 


371 


which  had  reached  Georgia.  Notwithstanding  PHmoor  was 
strongly  recommended  to  him,  Zubly  told  him  he  could  not 
admit  him  to  his  pulpit  until  he  "  satisfied  him  concermng  the 
doctrine  of  merit  and  justification  by  works."  "  As  I  do 
totally  renounce  every  idea  of  human  merit,"  says  Pilmoor, 
"  I  soon  gave  him  full  satisfaction,  and  he  offered  me  his 
church  to  preach  in  on  Sunday." 

The  Circular  Letter  above  refen-ed  to  was,  no  doubt,  that 
which  the  Eev.  Walter  Shirley,  of  England,  issued  in  reply 
to  several  propositions  concerning  works  in  their  relation  to 
salvation,  which  were  published  by  Mr.  Wesley  in  the  Minutes 
of  his  Conference  in  1770.  In  that  deliverance,  Wesley  ut- 
tered  such  words  as  the  following : 

-  With  regard  to  icorhing  for  life.  In  fact  every  believer, 
till  he  comes  to  glory,  works /or  as  well  as /ro>/nife. 

"  We  have  received  it  as  a  maxim  that  a  man  is  to  do 
nothing  in  order  to  Justification.     Nothing  can  be  more  false 
Whoever  repents  should  do  works  meet  for  repentance.    And 
if  this  is  not  to  find  favor,  what  is  he  to  do  them  for? 

"  Is  not  this  salvation  by  works  ? 

"  Not  by  the  merit  of  works,  but  by  works  as  a  condition, 

-  As  to  merit  itself,  of  which  we  have  been  so  dreadfully 
afraid  We  are  rewarded  according  to  our  works,  yea,  because 
of  our  works.  How  does  this  differ  from,  for  the  sake  of 
works  And  how  differs  this  from  Secwmlum  merita  operumj 
Wliich  is  no  more  than  as  our  works  deserve.  Can  you  spht 
this  hair?     I  doubt.     I  cannot."  ,    ,      ^.  .     ,, 

Shirley  attacked  these  and  similar  declarations  m  the 
Minutes  of  1770,  and  sent  forth  his  strictures  thereon  m  what 
is  known  as  "  The  Circular  Letter."  Fletcher  came  forth  in 
defence  of  the  Minutes,  and  in  this  controversy  his  celebrated 
^'  Checks  to  Antinomianism  "  had  their  origin.  It  seems  that 
Shirley's  "Circular  Letter"  had  reached  Savannah  before 
Pilmoor  arrived  there.  „  ,,  ,      ,       . 

Pilmoor  enjoyed  the  sacrament  at  Mr.  Zubly  s  church  on 
Sabbath   morning,  and  in  the   afternoon   at   the  Episcopal 
Church  he  heard  a  sermon  "on  the  great  duty  of  prayer, 
but  the  doctrine,  he  declares,  was  "  very  imperfect.     What  a 


372 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMEKICA 


pity,"  he  adds,  "that  those  who  profess  to  be  servants  of 
Jesus  should  have  so  little  to  say  for  their  Master !  "  In  the 
evening  he  preached  ''in  Mr.  Zubly's  meeting."  Descending 
from  the  pulpit  he  met  a  young  gentleman  who,  he  says,  "  has 
often  heard  me  in  Philadelphia,  and  he  introduced  me  to 
several  others,  who  invited  me  to  go  with  them  to  Mr.  Wright's* 
where  I  spent  the  evening  in  great  happiness,  and  we  con- 
cluded the  day  with  praise  and  prayer." 

Thus,  in  the  town  where  thirty-six  years  before  John 
Wesley  landed  for  the  purpose  of  preaching  to  the  Indians,  a 
man  who  was  preaching  in  America  by  the  appointment  of 
the  same  Wesley  proclaimed  the  Gospel.  Mr.  Wesley  began 
his  ministry  there  March  7, 1736  ;  Pilmoor,  Wesley's  mission- 
ary, began  his  there  February  7,  1773.  Wesley  but  imper- 
fectly understood  the  way  of  salvation  when  he  was  in 
Savannah.  "Self-denial  and  mortification  were  to  him  the 
chief  means  of  holiness."*  Pilmoor,  in  the  same  place, 
declared,  "  I  do  utterly  renounce  every  idea  of  human  merit 
and  all  justification  by  works ;  "  the  very  doctrine  with  which 
Luther  stirred  Europe,  and  by  which  the  now  more  enlight- 
ened Wesley,  with  the  co-operation  of  his  followers,  was 
beginning  to  move  the  English-speaking  world. 

The  great  hymnist  of  Methodism,  Charles  Wesley,  was 
likewise  in  Savannah,  and  there  is  reason  for  the  belief  that  a 
number  of  his  hymns  were  written  while  he  was  in  America. 
Lady  Oglethorpe,  while  residing  in  the  Governor's  residence, 
upon  Jekyl  Island,  near  the  coast  of  Southern  Georgia,  wrote 
to  her  father-in-law  that  "  Charles  Wesley  dwells  with  us 
upon  the  island  and  is  zealous  to  save  the  souls  of  the 
Indians,  who  come  hither  to  fish  and  hunt.  Mr.  Wesley  has 
the  gift  of  verse  and  has  written  many  sweet  hymns,  which  we 
sing."     That  noble  and  solemn  hymn, 

**  Lo !  on  a  narrow  neck  of  land, 

'Twixt  two  unbouoded  seas,  I  stand," 

was  written  by  Charles  Wesley  on  Jekyl  Island.  He  wrote 
from  the  island  to  Lady  Oglethorpe,  who  was  temporarily  in 

♦Whitehead's  Life  of  Wesley,  Vol.  II.,  p.  11. 


CHAKLES   WESLEY   WRITES    A  HYMN  WHEN   HERE 


373 


Savannah,  the  history  of  the  composition  of  that  grand  lyric : 
"  Last  evening  I  wandered  to  the  north  end  of  the  Island,  and 
stood  upon  the  narrow  point  which  your  ladyship  will  recall 
as  there  projecting  into  the  ocean.  The  vastness  of  the 
watery  waste,  as  compared  with  my  standing  place,  called  to 
mind  the  briefness  of  human  life  and  the  immensity  of  its 
consequences,  and  my  surroundings  inspired  me  to  write  the 
inclosed  hymn, 

*  *  *  Lo !  on  a  narrow  neck  of  land, 

'Twixt  two  unbounded  seas,  I  stand,' 

which  I  trust  may  please  your  ladyship,  weak  and  feeble  as  it 
is  when  compared  with  the  songs  of  the  sweet  Psalmist  of 
Israel."  Thus  it  appears  that  the  date  of  the  origin  of  this 
hymn  is  1736.  It  was  not  written  at  Land's  End,  in  England, 
as  has  been   believed,   but   on    ''  the   north    end    of  Jekyl 

Island."  *  1  ^^        A 

Pilmoor  s  second  sermon  in  Savannah  was  delivered 
February  8,  1773,  he  having  dined  that  day  at  a  Mr.  Wright's, 
where,  he  says,  "  piety  and  politeness  are  happily  united." 

He  remained  only  ten  days  in  Savannah,  one  of  which  he 
'  spent  in  visiting  Whitefield's  Orphan  House.  His  description 
of  it  is  interesting  :  "  Wednesday,  March  10,  Mr.  Wood, 
a  lawyer,  and  a  young  man  from  Boston  accompanied  me," 
he  says,  ''  to  the^ Orphan  House,  twelve  miles  from  Savannah. 
The  road  was  through  the  pine  trees,  which  being  perpetu- 
ally green,  make  it  remarkably  pleasant.  But  the  situation 
of  the  house  is  by  no  means  agreeable.  It  stands  on  a  small 
creek  and  is  almost  surrounded  by  barren  sand  that  produces 
nothing  but  pines.  The  house  itself  is  well  enough.  In  the 
evening  I  preached  to  the  family,  Thursday  morning  we  had 
prayers  in  the  chapel.  Afterward  I  returned  to  Savannah 
and  preached  in  the  evening.  Friday  was  the  time  for  Mr. 
Zubly's  Dutch  lecture,  but  the  town  was  in  confusion  on 
account  of  his  excellency,  Governor  Wright,  who  was  expected 

*  I  am  indebted  for  this  account  of  this  immortal  hymn  of  Charles  Wesley's  to 
an  article  in  the  Nashville  Christian  Advocate,  May  3,  1894,  by  the  Rev.  C.  ». 
Nutter. 


374 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


tliis  day,  so  there  was  no  service.  Saturday  the  Governor 
came,  the  guns  were  fired,  the  militia  mustered,  and  all  the 
gentlemen  in  the  town  attended  to  congratulate  him  on  his 
safe  arrival,  and  the  whole  town  was  full  of  festivity.  Never- 
theless we  had  a  jjretty  large  congregation  in  the  evening." 

Sunday  was  wet  and  gloomy.  He  concluded  the  day, 
his  last  in  the  city,  "  with  my  kind  friend  Mr.  Wright,"  he 
says,  "  who  has  behaved  to  me  with  the  greatest  tenderness 
and  civility."  We  shall  soon  see  him  pursuing  his  journey 
to  the  North. 


CHAPTEK  XXI. 

EGBERT  WILLIAMS'S   FORWARD   MOVEMENT  IN  VIRGINIA  IN   1773. 

When  Pilmoor  went  South  from  Norfolk  he  left  Eobert 
WilHams  at  Colonel  Veal's,  near  Portsmouth.  WiUiams  soon 
responded  to  a  call  from  Petersburg,  Dinwiddle  County.  In 
that  county  he  met  the  Rev.  Devereux  Jarratt,  who  in  his 
preaching  and  methods  was  much  like  the  Methodists.  He 
and  the  Rev.  Archibald  McRoberts,  of  a  neighboring  parish, 
were   zealous   and   awakening   preachers  of   the   Church  of 

England. 

Jarratt  was  a  plain  native  Virginian.     Born  January  6, 
1732,  he  w^as  early  left  fatherless  and  poor.     He  attended  a 
country  school  and  divided  his  vacations  between  farm  work 
and   training  game-cocks  and  race-horses.     When  nineteen 
he  carried  all  his  possessions,  except  one  shirt,  on  his  person 
into  Albemarle  County,  where  he  taught  a  school  for  nine 
pounds  seven  shillings  a  year.     He  then  was  an  uncouth  and 
ignorant  young  man,  but  with  some  knowledge  of  arithmetic. 
Afterward  he  taught  in  the  family  of  a  pious  woman,  who 
read  Flavel's  sermons  to  him.     Though  at  first  they  produced 
no  effect  upon  him,  he  at  length  became  deeply  serious,  and 
after  a  lengthened  endeavor  to  obtain  righteousness  he  re- 
ceived  a  joy   unspeakable.      He   contemplated   joining   the 
Presbyterian   Church,  but  on   further  reflection   decided  to 
seek  Episcopal  ordination.     He  went  to  England  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1762  and  was  ordained  in  London  in  the  beginning 
of  the  following  year.     He  was  chosen  rector  of  Bath  parish 
August   29,    1763.     In   the   parish   were   Saponey,   Hatch's 
Run,  and  Butterwood  Churches.    The  parish  was  in  a  deplor- 
able condition  morally,  and  he  doubted  if  one  family  withhi 
its  extensive   limits  had   even  the  form  of  Godliness.     His 


376 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMEKICA 


preaching  was  positive,  bold,  direct,  searcliiiig,  saving.  "  I 
endeavored,"  he  says,  "to  enforce  in  the  most  alarming  colors 
the  guilt  of  sin,  the  entire  depravity  of  human  nature,  the  aw- 
ful danger  mankind  are  in  by  nature  and  by  practice,  the  tre- 
mendous curse  to  which  they  are  obnoxious,  and  their  utter 
inability  to  evade  the  stroke  of  divine  justice  by  their  own 
power,  merit,  or  good  works." 

When  he  began  this  stai-tling  preaching  but  seven  or  eight 
persons  in  any  one  of  his  churches  received  the  Holy  Commun- 
ion.    Ten  years  later  he  had  nine  hundred,  if  not  a  thousand, 
communicants  in  his  three  churches.*    To  many,  such  preach- 
ing was  not  pleasing,  and  there  was  an  outcry  against  it,  but 
the  preacher  continued  to  proclaim  his  message.     The  com- 
mon people  in  increasing  numbers  went  to  hear  him,  but  for 
a  year  he  saw  no  abiding  effect  of  his  ministry,  except  that 
some  were  less  profane,  and  he  believed  that  at  times  some  of 
his  hearers  were  alarmed.     Jarratt  says  :  "  In  1765  the  power 
of  God  was  more  sensibly  felt  by  a  few.     These  were  con- 
strained to  apply  to  me  to  inquire  what  they  must  do  to  be 
saved.     And  now  I  began  to  preach  abroad  as  well  as  in 
private  houses,  and  to  meet  little  companies  in  the  evenings 
and  converse  on  divine  things.     I  beheve  soQie  this  year  were 
converted  to  God,  and  thenceforth  the  work  of  God  slowly 
went  on.     In  the  years  1770  and  1771  we  had  a  more  contin- 
uous outpouring  of  the  Spirit  at  a  place  in  my  parish  called 
Wliite  Oak.    It  was  here  I  first  formed  the  people  into  a  society 
that  they  might  assist  and  strengthen  each  other.     The  good 
effects  of  this  were  soon  apparent.     Convictions  were  deep 
and  lasting,  and  not  only  knowledge,  but  faith  and  love  and 
holiness,  continually  increased.     In  the  year  1772  the  revival 
was  more  considerable,  and  extended  in  some  places  for  fifty 
or  sixty  miles  around.     It  increased  still  more  the  following 
year.     In  the  spring  of  1774  it  was  more  remarkable  than 
ever.     The  word  preached  was  attended  with  such  energy 
that  some  were  pierced  to  the  heart.     Tears  fell  plentifully 
from  the  eyes  of  the  hearers,  and  some  were  constrained  to 
cry  out.     A  goodly  number  were  gathered  in  this  year,  both 

*  Bennett's  Memorials  of  Methodism  in  Virginia,  p.  62.     Richmond,  1871. 


WILLIAMS   VISITS   TETERSBURG,  VA. 


377 


in  my  parish  and  in  many  of  the  neighboring  counties.  I 
formed  several  societies  out  of  those  who  were  convinced  or 
converted,  and  found  it  a  happy  means  of  building  up  those 
that  had  believed  and  preventing  the  rest  from  losing  their 

convictions."  * 

Jarratt  did  not  confine  his  labors  within  his  parish,  but 
went  abroad,  and  soon  had  a  circuit  five  or  six  hundred  miles 
in  extent.  He  attended  upon  his  own  parish  on  the  Sabbath 
and  itinerated  all  the  week.  He  averaged  five  sermons  a 
week  and  suffered  criticism  from  his  clerical  brethren. 

Eobert  Williams   was  the   first   Wesleyan  preacher  that 
entered  Jarratt's  parish.    He  went  to  Petersburg  in  February, 
1773,  and  his  way  was  in  part  prepared  for  him  there  by  a 
man  who  was  converted  through  the  ministry  of  the  Kev. 
Archibald  McEoberts.      Watters,  who  was  then  at  Norfolk, 
says  Williams  preached  in   "Petersburg   and   the   adjacent 
country  for  several  months  with  great  success,  and  he  was 
the  first  Methodist  preacher  that   had   ever  been  in  those 
parts.     Mr.  Jarratt  and  Mr.  McKoberts  both  received  him 
with  open  arms  and  bade  him  a  hearty  welcome  to  their 
parishes."  f      Watters  travelled  Brunswick  Circuit,  "  in  the 
lower  parts  of  Virginia,"  a  portion  of  the  year  1777,  and  heard 
McKoberts  "preach  Christ  and  him  crucified  to  a  listening 
multitude,"  and  remarks :  "He  was  the  first  minister  of  the 
Church  of  England  that  ever  I  heard  preach  Christian  experi- 
ence."    In  1769  Gressett  Davis  "  was  convinced  of  sin  "  by 
the  preaching   of  McEoberts.  J     In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Wesley 
dated  July  11,  1780,  Davis  says  :    "  My  eyes  were  opened  to 
see  the  spirituality  of  the  law.     The  word  conversion  was  as 
new  to  me  as  if  there  had  been  no  such  term  in  the  English 
language.     As  to  Christians  I  knew  of  not  one  within  twenty 
miles.     In  short,  I  did  not  know  that  it  was  the  privilege  of 

*  Jarratt's  letter  to  Rankin,  in  Narrative  of  the  Revival  in  Virginia,  pp.  4,  5,  6. 

London,  1778. 

+  Life  of  Watters,  p.  34. 

X  The  Rev.  Archibald  McRoberts  was  a  successful  evangelist.  Jarratt  Bays : 
»'  A  remarkable  power  attended  his  preaching  and  many  were  truly  converted  to 
God  not  only  in  his  parish,  but  in  other  parts  where  he  was  called  to  labor. 
We  joined  hand  in  hand  in  the  great  work."  Later  McRoberts  became  a  Pres- 
byterian. J 


378 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


auy  except  ministers  of  the  Gospel  to  feel  what  I  now  ex- 
perienced." 

In  1772  Gressett  Davis  became  acquainted  with  a  young 
man  from  Yorkshire,  England,  who  had  been  a  Weslejan 
from  his  youth,  and  whose  name  was  Nathaniel  Young. 
"  This  young  man,"  writes  Davis  to  Wesley,  "  who  I  fear  had 
lost  the  vital  part  of  religion,  an  old  Quaker,  and  myself  hired 
the  theatre  in  Petersburg,  and  bound  ourselves  to  invite  any 
and  every  sect  and  party  who  we  thought  preached  the 
truth  of  the  Gospel  as  far  as  conversion,  to  come  and  preach  in 
the  said  house  under  this  restriction,  namely,  that  they  should 
not  intermeddle  with  the  principles  of  Church  government. 
We  soon  got  many  travelling  preachers,  more  than  at  our  set 
out  we  thought  were  in  America — of  Churchmen,  Presby- 
terians, Baptists,  and  Quakers — to  come  and  preach,  though 
nothing  yet  appeared  from  the  devil's  agents  but  persecution. 

"  In  a  few  months  after  the  house  was  opened  good  Robert 
Williams  made  a  visit  to  Norfolk.  Young  and  myself,  both 
having  connections  in  the  mercantile  line  at  Norfolk,  invited 
the  good  old  man  up  to  this  place.  His  entrance  among  us 
was  in  February,  1773.  I  informed  this  faithful  servant  of 
Christ  that  our  faith  was  plighted  to  each  other  not  to  admit 
any  who  would  not  promise  not  to  intermeddle  with  opinions. 
The  old  man  replied  we  only  wanted  a  change  of  heart  and 
to  preach  up  holiness  of  life.  This  we  readily  agreed  to.  He 
labored  among  us  about  the  town  and  no  fruit  aj^peared  for 
several  weeks.  We  then  furnished  him  a  horse  and  he 
travelled  into  the  country.  In  a  short  time  a  surprising  work 
broke  out  in  the  country,  which  has  since  spread  over  every 
part  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina."  "' 

In  March,  1773,  Williams  first  visited  Jarratt,  and  re- 
mained in  the  region  several  weeks.  He  was  in  Norfolk  again, 
as  we  learn  from  Pilmoor,  April  13,  1773,  and  also  on  the 
twenty-seventh  and  the  twenty -ninth  of  the  same  month, 
laboring  in  the  Gospel.  He  soon  went  forth  into  the  country 
again  and  returned  to  Dinwiddle  County,  for  Jarratt,  in  a 
letter  to  Wesley,  dated  June  29, 1773,  said  Williams  "has  just 

*  Bennett's  Memorials  of  Methodism  in  Virginia. 


WILLIAMS   VISITS   THE   REV.  DEVEKEUX  JAIJUATT     379 

now  returned  to  my  house  from  a  long  excursion  in  the  back 
counties."  Jarratt  assures  Wesley  that  "many  people  here 
heartily  join  with  me  in  returning  our  most  grateful  acknowl- 
edgments for  the  concern  you  have  shown  for  us  in  sending 
so"many  preachers  to  the  American  colonies.  Two  have 
preached  for  some  time  in  Virginia-Mr.  Pilmoor  and  Mr. 
Williams.  I  have  never  had  the  pleasure  of  seemg  Mr. 
Pilmoor,  but  by  all  I  can  learn  he  is  a  gracious  soul  and  a 

good  preacher." 

Jarratt  knew  very  little  of  Methodism  until  he  met  ^  ill- 
iams.     He  had  heard  both  AVesley  and  Whitefield  in  London, 
but  was  not  specially  impressed  thereby,  though  he  says  they 
both  spoke  well  and  to  the  puri>ose.     "  The  first  Methodist 
preacher  I  ever  saw  or  conversed  with  in  Virginia,"  says  Jar- 
ratt, "was   Mr.   Robert   Williams,  a  plain,  simple-hearted, 
liious  man.     This  I  believe  was  his  general  character.     He 
came  to  my  house  in  the  year  1773.     He  stayed  with  me  near 
a  week  and  preached  several  sermons  in  my  parish,  most  or 
all  of  which  I  heard.     I  liked  his  preaching  very  well,  and 
especially  the  animated  manner  in  which  his  discourses  were 
delivered.     I  had  much  conversation  with  him  concerning 
Mr  Wesley  and  the  nature  and  design  of  Methodism.     He 
informed  me  that  the  Methodists  were  true  members  of  the 
Church  of  England— that  their  design  was  to  build  up  and 
not  divide  the  Church— that  the  preachers  did  not  assume 
the  office  of  priests,  administered  neither  the  ordmance  of 
baptism   nor  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  looked  to  the  parish 
ministers  in  all  places  for  these-that  they  travelled  to  call 
sinners  to  repentance— to  join  proper  subjects  m  society  for 
mutual  edification,  and  to  do  all  they  could  for  the  spiritual 
edification  of  these  societies."  * 

Williams  was  many  years  in  advance  of  the  Methodist 
Book  Concern  in  publishing  and  scattering  Wesleyan  litera- 
ture. Jarratt  says:  "Mr.  AViUiams  also  furnished  me  with 
some  of  their  books,  and  I  became  acquainted  with  the  Min- 
utes of  several  of  their  Conferences.  By  these  I  was  let 
into  the  general  plan,  and  that  '  he  that  left  the  Church  left  the 

*  Life  of  Jarratt. 


380 


THE   WESLEY  A  N^   MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA 


Methodists'  ^  I  put  a  strong  mark  on  these  words.  I  felt 
much  attachment  to  Mr.  Williams  and  to  other  preachers  who 
came  after  him.  I  received  them  into  my  house  with  great 
cordiality  and  treated  them  with  disinterested  benevolence. 
I  hoped  good  would  be  done  by  their  means,  not  only  in 
promoting  the  unity  of  the  Church,  but  also  in  calling  sinners 
to  repentance  and  establishing  believers.  As  I  had  been  ac- 
customed before  this  to  collect  and  meet  the  people  for  re- 
ligious improvement,  I  could  have  no  objection  to  religious 
societies  or  any  prudential  means  that  seemed  to  promise 
the  edification  of  mankind.  I  therefore  concurred  in  and  en- 
com-aged  Christian  societies,  and  exhorted  such  as  had  been 
my  hearers  in  different  parts  of  Carolina  and  Virginia,  to  join 
in  society  and  admit  the  assistance  of  the  Methodist  preachers 
as  helpers  of  their  joy  and  establishment  in  religion.  In 
some  places  w^here  I  had  travelled  and  preached,  a  number  of 
the  people  had  objections  against  joining  what  was  called  a 
Methodist  society ;  they  wished  rather  to  continue  in  a  so- 
ciety which  took  its  denomination  from  me  ;  for  I  had  drawn 
up  some  rules  for  societies  and  had  begun  to  put  them  in 
practice  in  other  places  besides  our  OAvn  parish.  But  the 
principal  reason  against  joining  a  Methodist  society  was  the 
fear  of  being  led  thereby  from  the  Church  of  England,  which 
was  very  abhorrent  from  their  sentiments.  I,  believing  that 
the  Methodists  were  really  sincere  in  their  profession  of  at- 
tachment to  the  Church,  took  much  pains  to  remove  that  ob- 
jection. For  this  purpose  I  rode  many  a  mile  and  endeavored 
to  quiet  the  minds  of  the  people  by  showing  them  that  the 
Methodists  Avere  members  of  the  Church,  and  could  not  be 
otherwise,  because  all  that  left  the  Church  left  the  Metho- 
dists. My  endeavors  in  this  respect  were  successful,  and 
many  societies  were  soon  established,  and  preachers  were  ap- 
pointed to  take  charge  of  them  according  to  the  rules  of 
Methodism.  I  believe  good  was  done  and  the  work  spread 
and  prospered.  I  have  been  the  more  circumstantial  in  this 
account,  because  I  have  been  censured  by  some  for  giving 

*This  expression  is  in  the  English  Wesleyan  Minutes,  which  were  the  "Min- 
utes" Jarratt  read. 


WILLIAMS   INFORMS   JARRATT  ABOUT   METHODISM      381 

the  countenance  I  did  to  the  Methodists  and  lay-preachers, 
persons,  as  many  supposed,  inimical  to  America.*  From  what 
I  have  said  it  must  be  apparent  that  my  views  were  disinter- 
ested, and  that  what  I  did  was  done  to  promote  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  salvation  of  souls."  f 

It  is  apparent  from  Jarratt's  testimony  that  Williams,  by 
his  preaching,  his  conversations,  and  his  books,  was  not  an 
unskilful   instrument  in   bringing    into   active  co-operation 
with  Methodism  this  prominent  and  powerful  minister  of  the 
Church  of  England,  whose  services  to  the  Wesleyan  move- 
ment in  the  South  were  so  great,    so  continuous,  and  so  val- 
uable.    Asbury  labored  in  union  with  Jarratt,  was  often  a 
guest  in  his  house,  and  greatly  appreciated  his  work.     Eankin 
also  mentions  him  with  manifest  affection,  and  informs  us  that 
about  January,  1776,  Jarratt  requested  that  his  parish  might 
be  included  in  Brunswick  Circuit,    "  that  all  who  chose   it 
might  have  the  privilege  of  meeting  in  class  and  being  mem- 
bers of  the  society."   He  soon  saw  the  salutary  effects.    Many 
that  had  but  small  desires  before  began  to  be  much  alarmed 
and  labored   earnestly   after  eternal  life.     In   a  little  time 
many  were  deeply  awakened  and  many  tasted  of  the  pardon- 
ing love  of  God.     In  a  few  months  Mr.  Jarratt  saw  more  fruit 
of  his  labors  than  he  had  seen  for  many  years,  and  he  went  on 
with  the  preachers  hand  in  hand,  both  in  doctrine  and  dis- 
cipline. J 

Jarratt's  fellowship  with  the  Methodist  preachers  in  affec- 
tion and  toil  is  illustrated  by  Eankin,  who  July  2, 1776,  says  : 
"  I  rode  with  Mr.  Shadford  to  Mr.  Jarratt's,  who  with  Mrs. 
Jarratt  received  us  with  open  arms.  I  preached  the  next  day, 
not  far  from  his  house,  to  a  deeply  attentive  congregation. 
Many  were  much  affected  at  the  preaching,  but  far  more  at 
the  meeting  of  the  society.     Mr.  Jarratt  himself  was  con- 

*  Almost  all  the  Methodist  preachers  in  America  in  that  day  were  Englishmen, 
and,  like  Wesley,  loyal  to  Great  Britain.  The  controversy  which  brought  on  the  war 
of  independence  was  then  rife,  and  for  the  reasons  mentioned  those  preachers  were 
often  regarded  with  suspicion  by  those  who  favored  the  American  cause. 

t  The  Life  of  the  Rev.  Devereux  Jarratt,  rector  of  Bath  Parish,  Dmwiddie 
County,  Virginia.  Written  by  himself.  In  a  series  of  letters  to  the  Rev.  John 
Coleman.     Pp.  107,  108,  109,  110,  111.     Baltimore,  1806. 

X  Narrative  of  the  Revival  of  Religion  in  Virginia,  p.  28.     London,  1778. 


382 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


straiDed  to  praise  God  aloud  for  His  great  Love  to  him  and 
to  his  people."  *  We  have  a  similar  example  of  Jarratt's 
friendship  for  and  co-operation  with  the  Methodists  from 
William  Watters,  who  in  1777  travelled  Brunswick  Circuit, 
within  which  Jarratt  lived.  On  one  occasion,  "weak  and 
hardly  ably  to  sit  on  my  horse,"  says  Watters,  "I  at  last  came 
to  the  house  of  Mr.  Jarratt,  with  whom  I  stayed  a  night,  as  I 
did  every  time  I  came  round  my  circuit.  His  barn,  well  fitted 
up  with  seats  and  a  pulpit,  was  one  of  our  preaching  places ; 
and  I  found  him  very  friendly  and  attentive  to  me  while  I 
stayed  in  the  parts."  t 

A  further  illustration  of  the  spirit  of  Jarratt  and  of  the 
completeness  of  his  identification  with  the  Methodists  in  feel- 
ing and  work  is  seen  in  a  letter  he  wTote  to  Eankin,  May  11, 
1776,  a  part  of  which  was  published  in  the  "Narrative  of  the 
Eevival  of  Eeligion  in  Virginia."  Jari'att  says:  "I  believe 
three  score  in  and  near  my  parish  have  believed  through 
grace  since  the  Quarterly  Meeting.  Such  a  work  I  never 
saw.  Sometimes  twelve,  sometimes  fifteen,  find  the  Lord  at 
one  class  meeting.  I  am  just  returned  from  meeting  two 
classes.  Much  of  the  power  of  God  was  in  each.  My  dear 
partner  is  now  happy  in  God  her  Saviour.  I  clap  my  hands 
exulting  and  praise  God.  Blessed  be  the  Lord  that  ever  he 
sent  you  and  your  brethren  into  this  part  of  his  vineyard." 

When  Jarratt  died  Asbury  commemorated  his  apostolic 
character  and  ministry  in  a  funeral  sermon.  He  thought  of 
publishing  the  discourse,  as  an  extant  autograph  letter  of  his 
shows ;  but  whether  Asbury  did  or  did  not  print  the  sermon, 
he  left  an  outline  of  it  in  his  Journal.  He  bore  high  testi- 
mony to  Jarratt's  talents,  zeal,  and  abounding  labor  and  use- 
f uhiess,  and  says  :  "  There  were  very  few  parish  churches 
within  fifty  miles  of  his  own  in  which  he  had  not  preached, 
to  which  labors  of  love  and  zeal  were  added  preaching  on 
solitary  plantations  and  meeting-houses.  He  w^as  the  first 
who  received  our  despised  preachers.  When  strangers  and 
unfriended  he  took  them   to   his  house  and  had  societies 

*  Narrative  of  the  Revival  of  Religion  in  Virginia,  p.  31. 
t  Life  of  William  Watters,  p.  58. 


jarratt's   SERVICES   TO   METHODISM 


383 


formed  in  his  parish.  Some  of  his  people  became  travelling 
preachers  among  us.  He  was  a  man  of  genius,  possessed  a 
great  deal  of  natural  oratory,  was  an  excellent  reader  and  a 
<'ood  w^riter.  I  am  convinced  that  there  have  been  more  souls 
convinced  by  his  ministry  than  by  that  of  any  other  man  in 
Virginia."  ^ 

Jarratt's  hold  upon  the  confidence  and  love  of  the  Metho- 
dist preachers  was  conspicuously  shown  at  the  Conference 
held  in  1782  at  Ellis's  Meeting  House  in  Virginia,  which  ac- 
knowledged "  their  obligations  to  the  Eev.  Mr.  Jarratt  for  his 
kind  and  friendly  services  to  the  preachers  and  people  from 
our  first  entrance  into  Virginia,  and  more  particularly  for  at- 
tending our  Conference  in  Sussex  in  public  and  in  private  ; 
and  advise  the  preachers  in  the  South  to  consult  him  and  to 
take  his  advice  in  the  absence  of  Mr.  Asbury."  t  Jesse  Lee 
in  his  youth  attended  Jarratt's  ministry.  In  his  "  History  of 
the  Methodists"  he  says  :  "Mr.  Jarratt  was  one  of  the  most 
pious  clergymen  that  I  was  acquainted  with,  and  his  attach- 
ment to  the  Methodists  was  very  great,  and  never  abated  un- 
til the  Methodists  broke  off  from  the  Church  of  England  in 

1784." 

Nathaniel  Lee,  the  father  of  this  celebrated  Methodist 
preacher  and  historian  of  Methodism,  lived  about  sixteen 
miles  from  Petersburg,  where  "he  owned  several  hundred  acres 
of  land  and  enough  servants  to  cultivate  them."  He  and  his 
family  were  nominally  Episcopalians.  Sapony  Church,  the 
principal  sanctuary  in  Jarratt's  parish,  was  about  twelve  miles 
from  Mr.  Lee's  residence.  Hearing  Jarratt  occasionally  he 
became  converted.  Subsequently  his  wife  and  their  son  Jesse 
experienced  the  same  spiritual  renewal.  Mr.  Lee  and  his 
family,  in  hearing  Robert  Williams  at  every  convenient  op- 
portunity for  about  a  year,  became  Methodists.  AVilliams  be- 
gan to  form  societies  in  their  neighborhood  in  the  spring  of 
1774,  and  in  the  summer  following  Nathaniel  Lee  and  his  wife 
and  tw^o  of  their  sons,  Peter  and  Jesse,  joined  the  Methodist 
society.     From  that  time  the  elder  Lee's  house  w^as  a  Metho- 

*  Asbury's  Journal,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  21-17  ;  Vol.  I,  p.  435. 

t  Minutes  of  the  Conferences  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


384 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


dist  preacher's  home,  and  a  preaching  place  until  his  death,  in 
1820.  His  son  Jesse  became  one  of  the  most  commanding 
preachers  and  leaders  of  the  new  denomination  and  a  chief 
instrument  of  its  progress  in  the  South  and  in  the  North. 

About  the  end  of  the  summer  of  1773,  Williams  returned 
to  Norfolk  and  shortly  afterward  he  and  Watters  sailed  thence 
to  Baltimore,  where  they  spent  the  Sabbath,  "  preaching  both 
in  the  town  and  at  *  the  Point '  to  considerable  congregations." 
Watters  reached  his  home  in  Maryland  apparently  in  Sep- 
tember, as  he  says  he  had  been  absent  eleven  months,  and  he 
began  his  journey  to  Virginia  in  October,  1772.  Williams 
did  not  tarry  long  in  Maryland,  for  on  the  eighth  of  Octo- 
ber, 1773,  he  was  in  Philadelphia,  and  for  a  short  time  was 
active  in  the  ministry  there  and  in  New  Jersey.  A  great 
work  for  Methodism  was  accomplished  by  him  while  he  was 
in  Virginia,  in  the  early  months  of  1773,  by  so  enlightening 
the  mind  of  Mr.  Jarratt  respecting  it,  as  to  bring  him  into 
active  and  enthusiastic  support  of  the  new  evangelical  move- 
ment. 


CHAPTEE  XXII. 

METHODISM   IN  THE  MIDDLE   COLONIES   DOWN  TO  THE  FIBST  CON- 
FERENCE. 


AsBURY  and  Wright  were  laboring  in  the  region  of  the 
Hudson  and  the  Delaware,  while  Boardman  was  in  New  Eng- 
land, and  Pilmoor  in  Maryland,  in  the  summer  of  1772. 
Captain  Webb  must  have  sailed  for  England  about  the  time 
that  Boardman  moved  eastward  and  Pilmoor  southward,  for 
he  appeared  at  the  British  Conference,  which  met  at  Leeds 
August  4th,  and  made  an  appeal  to  it  for  more  preachers. 
Shadford  says  when  the  Captain  "  warmly  exhorted  preach- 
ers to  go  to  America,  I  felt  my  spirit  stirred  within  me  to 
go."  King  and  Williams  both  were  in  Maryland  in  the  sum- 
mer of  the  same  year,  and  King  continued  there  in  the  fall 

and  winter. 

Asbury's  itinerancies  led  him  to  New  York  City  about  the 
first  of  August,  1772.  For  about  four  months  he  had  been 
preaching  in  and  about  Philadelphia.  Aside  from  his  labors 
in  that  city  his  work  was  chiefly  in  New  Jersey.  He  also 
was  somewhat  in  Delaware.  He  visited  Wilmington,  New 
Castle,  and  also  went  to  Bohemia  Manor  in  eastern  Maryland. 
He  preached  several  times  at  Greenwich,  Burlington,  New 
Mills,  now  Pemberton,  Trenton,  and  elsewhere  in  New  Jer- 
sey. He  now  entered  upon  his  work  in  New  York,  and 
preached  there  on  the  seventh  of  August,  and  several  times 
very  soon  thereafter  on  Sundays  and  week-days.  On  one  of 
these  occasions  he  complains  of  finding  "  broken  classes  and 
a  disordered  society,  so  that  my  heart  was  sunk  within  me." 
This  was  after  Wright  had  conducted  the  work  there  for 
about  three  months,  in  the  absence  of  both  Boardman  and 
Pilmoor.  Asbury  met  the  leaders  on  the  ninth  of  October 
25 


:^8Q 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMEUICA 


and  says  "there  were  some  sharp  debates.  Mr.  L[upton?] 
told  me  I  had  abeady  preached  the  people  away,  and  inti- 
mated that  the  whole  work  would  be  destroyed  by  me."  The 
next  day  he  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Wesley,  requiring  "  a 
strict  attention  to  discipline,"  and  placing  him  in  charge  of 
the  American  field  as  his  assistant.  Wesley  at  this  time  also 
enjoined  that  Mr.  Williams  "should  not  print  any  more 
books  without  his  consent."  Asbury  also  received  a  letter 
from  Williams,  informing  him  of  the  condition  of  the  work  in 
Maryland,  and  that  it  was  appointed  for  Asbury  "  to  winter 
there."  Williams  was  then  about  to  start  with  AVatters  to  re- 
inforce Pilmoor  in  Virginia.  While  in  New  York  at  this  time 
Asbury  visited  and  preached  at  New  Rochelle,  Kingsbridge, 
New^town,  and  Staten  Island. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  October,  1772,  Asbury  started  for 
Maryland.  He  now  saw  Princeton  for  the  first  time  and  met 
Boardmau  there.  They  "  agreed  in  judgment  about  the  af- 
fairs of  the  society,  and  were  comforted  together."  As  he 
advanced  he  preached  twice  each  at  Trenton  and  Burlington, 
in  New  Jersey.  He  also  was  in  Chester,  Pa.,  where  he  saw 
the  hardened  prisoners  in  the  jail,  and  at  Bohemia,  where  he 
met  Solomon  Hersey,  "  a  man  hearty  in  the  cause."  Early  in 
November  he  crossed  the  Susquehanna,  and  was  sDon  at 
Deer  Creek,  which  at  that  time  and  for  long  afterward  was  a 
place  of  much  interest  and  influence  in  Maryland  Methodism. 
What  he  found  there  he  thus  describes :  *'  The  Lord  hath 
done  great  things  for  these  people,  notwithstanding  the  weak- 
ness of  the  instruments  and  some  little  irregularities.  Men 
who  neither  feared  God  nor  regarded  man — sw^earers,  liars, 
cock-fighters,  card-players,  horse-racers,  drunkards,  etc.,  are 
now  so  changed  as  to  become  new  men,  and  are  filled  with 
the  praises  of  God." 

Asbury  moved  over  about  the  same  territory  in  Maryland 
that  Pilmoor  had  already  traversed,  and  also  went  into  Kent 
County,  which  the  movement  had  reached.  There  he  en- 
countered opposition  from  a  Church  clergyman,  who  forbade 
him  to  preach;  told  him  the  people  did  wrong  in  hearing 
him,  and  charged  him  with  making  schism.     At  the  house  of 


PREACHERS  STATIONED  AT  QUARTERLY  CONFERENCE      387 

Joseph  Presbury,  in   Gunpowder  Neck,  Asbury  attended  a 
quarterly  meeting  on  the  twenty-third  of    December.     He 
here  shows  that  Mr.  Boardman  had  previously  held  a  similar 
meeting  in  Maryland  ;  for  he  says  that  then  Boardman  "  gave 
them  their  way,"  so  that  now  he  (Asbury)  was  "  obliged  to 
connive  at  some  things."     There  being  as  yet  no  annual  Con- 
ference, the  business  which  was  done  in  it  subsequently  was 
now  transacted  at   the   Quarterly  Conference.     There  is  no 
trace  as  yet  of  such  a  conference  having  been  held  east  of 
the  Susquehanna.      At  the  Quarterly  Conference,  at  which 
Asbury  now  presided,  the  preachers  were  stationed,  and  the 
appointments  proved  puzzling  to  Dr.  Bangs,  who  in  his  "His- 
tory "   gives  them,  with  his  own  interrogatories  concernmg 
them,  thus :  "  Brother  S.,  by  whome  we  suppose  he  means 
Stravvbridge,   and  brother  O.   (who?)  in  Frederick  County. 
Brother  K.  (King?)  and  brother  W(illiams)  and  I.  K.  (who?) 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Bay."     As  Williams  at  that  time  was 
in  Virginia,  and  continued  there  until  the  next  summer,  Bangs 
failed  in  his  guess  regarding  him.     Possibly  the  brother  W. 
was  Wright.      Lednum,  however,   gives   the   names   of  the 
preachers  whose  initials  only  are  given  by  Asbury,  thus: 
Strawbridge,  Owen,  King,  Webster,  Eollins.     The  three  lat- 
ter were  converts  in  Maryland  and  had  but  just  entered  upon 
the  work  of  the  ministry  in  a  local  way.     It  was  found  at  this 
Conference  that  the  collections  "  were  sufficient  to  pay  the 
expenses."     Asbury   says  "Brother  S[trawbridge]   received 
£8  quarterage ;  brother  K[ing]  and  myself  X6  each."     The 
question  of  the  sacraments  was  considered.     "J.  K.,"  says 
Asbury,  "  was  neuter,  brother  S.  pleaded  much  for  the  ordi- 
nances, and  so  did  the  people,  who  appeared  to  be  much  biassed 
by  him.     I  told  them  I  would  not  agree  to  it  at  that  time  and 
insisted    on   abiding  by  our  rules.      Great  love^  subsisted 
among  us  at  this  meeting  and  we  parted  in  peace." 

Asbury  went  to  Baltimore  January  3, 1773,  and  this  is  the 
first  that  he  mentions  having  preached  in  that  town.  At 
"the  Point  "he  *' had  a  large  congregation  at  the  house  of 
Captain  Patten,"  in  which  were  "  many  of  the  principal  peo- 
ple."    At  night  he   preached  in  "  a  house  well  tilled  with 


388 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


people"  in  the  city.  He  was  quickly  away  to  the  rural 
parts  again,  to  which  most  of  his  toil  was  given.  Now  and 
then,  however,  he  was  back  in  Baltimore.  The  progress  of 
the  work  at  this  time  in  the  country  in  Maryland  is  indicated 
in  a  letter  Asbury  received  from  Eichard  Owen  early  in 
March,  1773,  in  which  Owen  said  :  "  I  know  not  what  it 
will  come  to.  Almost  every  person  seems  to  be  under  relig- 
ious concern.  There  are  about  22  already  joined  in  society 
at  Seneca.  At  Georgetown  four  have  lately  been  enabled  to 
rejoice  in  God  and  one  at  Rocky  Creek." 

Abraham  Whitworth,  a  yoimg  man  from  England, 
preached  in  southern  New  Jersey  in  the  summer  and  autumn 
of  1772.  His  usefulness  there  was  great  and  far-reaching  in 
its  results  because  his  ministry  brought  Benjamin  Abbott  to 
Christ  and  into  the  service  of  the  new  movement.  Before  he 
heard  W  hit  worth,  Abbott  was  a  rough,  drinking,  swearing, 
fighting,  gambling  companion  of  evil-doers.  Frequently  was 
he  arraigned  at  the  bar  of  justice  for  his  deeds  of  violence. 
*'  If  any  affront  or  insult  were  offered  him  he  seldom  failed  to 
deal  out  blows  to  the  aggressor."  Freeborn  Garrettson,  in  a 
manuscript  yet  preserved,  relates  a  tradition  that  Abbott 
once  knocked  down  a  judge  who  was  to  try  him,  saying :  "  I 
might  as  well  be  convicted  for  an  old  sheep  as  a  lamb." 
The  first  time  Abbott  heard  Whitworth  he  was  not  impressed, 
though  "the  preacher  was  much  engaged  and  the  people  were 
crying  all  through  the  house."  In  his  application,  however, 
the  preacher  moved  Abbott  in  a  degree.  The  fact  that  this 
was  eleven  or  twelve  miles  from  Abbott's  home  renders  it 
probable  that  it  was  at  the  church  where  Evans  had  preached 
at  Greenwich.  The  next  time  Abbott  heard  him  was  in  his 
own  neighborhood,  where  Methodist  preaching  was  then  "  a 
new  thing."  "  He  preached  with  power,"  says  Abbott.  "  The 
word  reached  my  heart  in  such  a  powerful  manner  that  it 
shook  every  joint  in  my  body.  Tears  flowed  in  abundance, 
and  I  cried  aloud  for  mercy." 

His  compunction  was  severe,  so  that  he  "  felt  a  hell "  in 
his  breast,  and  started  one  night  to  commit  suicide,  but  was 
arrested  by  what  seemed  to  him  "  a  voice  saying,  *  This  tor- 


BENJAMIN   ABBOTT'S   CONVERSION 


389 


ment  is  nothing  to  hell.'  "  He  thought  the  devil  was  about  to 
take  him  literally  away.  He  heard  the  preacher  again  on 
Sunday,  the  eleventh  of  October,  at  the  place  where  he  first 
heard  him,  and  at  the  dawn  of  the  next  day  his  anguish  van- 
ished, and  the  lion  became  a  lamb.  "  My  heart  felt  as  light 
as  a  bird,"  he  says.  Immediately  he  went  forth  to  tell  his 
new  experience  to  his  neighbors.  At  Elwell's  Mill,  two  miles 
from  his  home,  he  says :  "  While  I  was  telling  them  my  ex- 
perience and  exhorting  them  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come, 
some  laughed,  others  cried,  and  some  thought  I  had  gone 
distracted.  Before  night  a  report  was  spread  all  through  the 
neighborhood  that  I  was  raving  mad." 

At  this  time  Abbott  lived  in  Pittsgrove  Township,  Salem 
Coimty,  New  Jersey,  and  was  employed  by  Benjamin  Yan 
Meter,  a  farmer,  solely  on  account  of  his  physical  strength, 
"for  otherwise  he  was  very  objectionable,  being  intemperate, 
and  when  so  very  quarrelsome."  *     As  a  result  of  his  conver- 
sion a  class  was  formed  at  the  house  of  his  neighbor,  John 
Murphy,  of  which  Abbott  was  one  of  the  first  members  and  Mr. 
Murphy  the  leader.     From  this  class  came  the   Friendship 
Church,  of  which  my  godly  father  and  mother  were  members, 
and  in  whose  graveyard  they  sleep  with  several  of  their  chil- 
dren and  among  some  of  the  early  Methodists  of  southern 
New  Jersey.     Friendship  Church  in  Salem  County  was  the 
first  society  formed  south  of  Greenwich  Church,  and  its  ori- 
gin was  no  doubt  due  to  the  labors  of  Whitworth,  which  re- 
sulted in  the  conversion  of  Benjamin  Abbott. 

This  rough,  hard  man  was  tamed,  subdued,  saved,  and  be- 
came a  flame  of  fire  in  South  Jersey,  when  there  were  fewer 
than  a  score  of  Methodist  preachers  in  America.  Probably 
no  man  of  his  day  in  this  country  made  a  more  profound  and 
enduring  impression  as  an  awakening  evangelist.  His  speech, 
if  rude,  was  electrical.  With  a  vivid  imagination  which,  un- 
chastened,  seemed  at  times  almost  grotesque,  and  much  in- 
fluenced by  his  impressions,  Abbott  yet  was  a  man  of  singu- 
lar and  marveUous  power.     By  his  conversion  the  forces  of 

*  The  Rev.  Jefferson  Lewis's  Account  of  Methodism  in  Salem,  N.  J.,  in  New 
York  Christian  Advocate^  1839. 


390 


THE    WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


his  nature  were  turned  in  a  reverse  channel,  and  ever  after- 
ward flowed  in  a  divine  direction.  He  was  a  great  lover  of 
souls,  tremendously  in  earnest,  depended  absolutely  upon  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  he  achieved  moral  wonders  among  the 
people.  He  ploughed  and  seeded  to  Methodism  much  of 
southern  New  Jersey,  supporting  himself  meanwhile  by  the 
labor  of  his  hands. 

Abbott  was  the  first  convert  in  New  Jersey  who  became 
a  preacher.  Jesse  Lee  knew  him,  and  says  that  as  a  speaker 
Abbott  was  "  a  great  blunderer  and  his  language  incorrect, 
more  so  than  was  common,"  and  yet  Lee  says,  as  is  said  in 
the  Minutes,  that  Abbott  "  was  one  of  the  wonders  of 
America."  His  acquired  mental  equipment  was  small,  but 
by  the  use  of  all  his  resoui'ces  he  became  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful and  celebrated  Methodist  evangelists  in  America,  in 
the  primitive  times.  And  but  few  names  in  American  Meth- 
odism in  the  past  shine  brighter  and  are  known  farther  than 
that  of  Benjamin  Abbott,  who  until  the  fortieth  year  of  his 
life  was  remarkable  for  wickedness. 

Although  Abbott  travelled  much  and  far  as  a  preacher 
before  1789,  he  did  not  until  that  year  formally  enter  upon 
the  itinerancy.  In  this  sphere  his  travels  were  extensive  and 
his  labors  abundant.  In  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Mary- 
land he  was  a  burning  and  a  shining  light  as  an  itinerant 
preacher.  His  strength  in  a  few  years  failed,  and  he  went 
home  to  New  Jersey  to  die.  His  death  occurred  in  Salem  in 
that  State  on  the  fourteenth  of  August,  1796.  The  last  words 
he  uttered  intelligently  were  :  "  Glory  to  God,  I  see  heaven 
sweetly  opened  before  me."  At  the  age  of  64  Benjamin  Ab- 
bott ceased  his  unique  and  wonderfully  successful  career  as  a 
winner  of  souls,  and  he  rests  in  the  old  Methodist  graveyard 
in  Salem,  among  those  who  were  seals  to  his  ministry. 

Abbott  began  preaching  in  1774.  Gatch  entered  New 
Jersey  the  middle  of  November,  1773,  with  John  King.  He 
preached  there  until  the  spring  of  1774.  While  there  he 
called  on  Abbott  to  close  a  meeting  with  prayer,  which, 
Abbott  says,  was  the  first  prayer  he  ever  offered  in  public. 
Shortly  after  this  he  began  his  mighty  ministry. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


pilmoor's  return  from  the  south  to  the  north. 


In  the  middle  of  February,  1773,  Mr.  Pilmoor  left  Savan- 
nah for  the  North.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Zubly  accompanied  him 
as  far  as  Purysburg,  a  village  at  which  Mr.  Wesley  had  been, 
of  which  he  says  :  "  Mr.  Belinger  sent  a  negro  lad  wdth  me 
to  Purysburg,  or  rather  to  the  poor  remains  of  it.  O  how 
hath  God  stretched  over  this  place  the  lines  of  confusion  and 
the  stones  of  emptiness ! "  Pilmoor  preached  the  next  day 
at  Purysburg  to  a  good  congregation.  "  The  people  were 
much  affected  under  the  sermon,"  he  says.  "  After  preaching 
I  was  invited  to  dine  wdth  a  Frenchman,  who  was  one  of  the 
principal  inhabitants,  and  expressed  a  very  great  desire  that 
I  would  stay  and  be  their  parish  minister;  but  parishes, 
however  valuable  as  to  earthly  things,  have  no  weight  with 
me.     My  call  is  to  run — to  run  to  and  fro." 

Pilmoor  reached  Charleston  on  the  seventeenth  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1773.  Two  days  afterward  he  sent  w^ord  through  the 
town  that  he  would  preach,  and  in  the  evening  a  fine  con- 
gregation heard  him.  The  next  day  he  received  a  visit 
from  a  Christian  young  man  who  was  a  Methodist  in  Eng- 
land. He  also  received  a  message  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Percy, 
one  of  Lady  Huntingdon's  preachers,  who  had  just  arrived 
from  England,  and  was  very  zealous.  No  doubt  this  was  the 
Mr.  Percy  whom  Mary  Thorn  says  Mr.  Hart  directed  to  per- 
suade her  to  leave  the  Methodists.  While  Pilmoor  tarried  in 
Charleston  he  preached  more  than  once  in  the  Rev.  Oliver 
Hart's  church. 

Pilmoor's  ministry  was  very  effective  in  Charleston.  On 
the  third  of  March  many  persons  spoke  with  him  "who  were 
blessed  under  the  preaching."     The  first  Sunday  in  March  he 


392 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


preached  three  times  in  Charleston,  and  in  the  evening  of  the 
following  day  he  delivered  his  farewell  discourse  from  the 
text,  "  Finally,  brethren,  fareweU,"  etc.,  to  "  a  vast  multitude 
of  people."  He  remarks:  "My  heart  was  greatly  engaged 
for  the  happiness  of  these  dear  people,  who  have  always  be- 
haved to  me  as  if  I  had  been  an  angel  of  God.  I  should  like 
weU  to  continue  longer  in  this  town,  but  I  must  hasten 
through  the  woods  to  Philadelphia  and  preach  the  gospel  m 
the  waste  places  of  the  wilderness."  Leaving  Charleston, 
finally,  on  the  ninth  of  March,  1773,  he  was  accompanied  to 
the  boat  by  many  friends,  and  after  a  good  passage  was  kindly 
received  at  a  Mrs.  Baskerdale's. 

Having  an  appointment  to  preach  at  a  Presbyterian 
meeting-house  he,  with  a  son  of  his  hostess,  went  thither 
the  next  day.  It  was  Militia  Day,  and  many  gentlemen  were 
assembled  near  the  house  of  worship.  The  captain  offered 
to  wait  until  the  sermon  was  preached,  "  and  came  with  his 
whole  companv  to  hear  the  word  of  God."  After  preaching, 
Pilmoor  dined  with  a  *'  Mr.  AYestkit,  a  member  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Church  in  Charleston,  and  was  as  happy  as  if  they 
had  been  acquainted  for  years."  In  this  connection  he  re- 
corded his  opinion  of  the  American  people  thus:  "The 
reh^ious  people  in  America  unite  piety  and  civility  so  happily 
together  that  they  are  by  far  the  most  agreeable  people  I 

know  of  on  earth." 

The  following  day,  March  11,  1773,  his  good  host  went 
with  Pilmoor  to  "  Wappaton  meeting-house,  where  a  great 
number  of  genteel  people  assembled  to  hear  the  word."  After 
retiring  to  the  woods  for  secret  prayer  Pilmoor  preached  to 
them.  The  ensuing  day,  at  a  place  called  Winnian,  he  met 
a  congregation  "  who  received  the  word  with  gladness."  As 
he  surveyed  the  field  he  was  moved  to  exclaim:  "In 
these  parts  the  fields  are  white  already,  and  there  might  be  a 
plentiful  harvest  of  souls  if  they  had  but  a  faithful  pastor." 
It  was  not  until  about  twelve  years  after  this  that  Bishop 
Asbury,  in  connection  with  Henry  Willis  and  Jesse  Lee, 
went  to  Charleston  and  started  Methodism  in  that  town. 
It  does  not  appear  that  Pilmoor  organized  any  societies  m 


ADVENTURES   BY  LAND   AND   WATER 


393 


South  Carolina  or  Georgia.  At  Georgetown  "the  school- 
master sent  word  through  the  town  that  there  would  be 
preaching  in  the  court-house.  A  good  many  people  as- 
sembled '  to  hear  Pilmoor,'  who  were  greatly  affected." 

He  had  a  dangerous  passage  amidst  high  winds  across  the 
Black  River.  He  reached  the  shore  safely  and  drove  about 
five  miles,  where,  from  an  unwilling  host,  he  secured  a  night's 
entertainment.  "The  man  of  the  house,"  he  writes,  "was 
very  unwilling  to  take  me  in,  but  at  length  he  consented.  He 
told  me  many  things  that  he  had  met  with  among  strangers, 
and  was  very  rough  and  unpleasant.  I  told  him  he  was  at 
liberty  to  think  what  he  pleased  concerning  me,  as  I  was  a 
stranger,  but  assured  him  I  should  fully  satisfy  him  for  his 
trouble  before  I  left  his  house.  After  some  time  he  said,  '  I 
believe  you  are  a  man  of  God,'  and  from  that  time  he  was 
remarkably  civil  and  kind;  so  we  spent  the  evening  in 
religious  conversation." 

When  he  came  to  "  the  Bay,"  which  he  fails  to  name,  but 
which  no  doubt  was  Winy  aw  Bay,  he  encountered  "perils  of 
waters."  He  ventured  into  the  bay,  but  presently  "  w^as  at  a 
full  stop.  The  horse  would  not  move.  The  spring  tide 
swelled  very  rapidly,  the  waves  rolled  against  the  sides  of  the 
horse,  and  over  his  back.  In  this  situation,"  says  Pilmoor, 
"  I  did  not  know  what  I  must  do.  The  sea  was  flowing  in  so 
violently  that  I  must  in  a  very  short  time  have  been  swallowed 
up  by  the  waves.  In  my  distress  I  lifted  up  my  heart  unto 
God  and  cried  to  him  for  deliverance,  and  immediately  it 
was  impressed  on  my  mind  as  distinctly  as  if  I  had  heard  a 
voice  saying  unto  me,  '  Jump  down  into  the  water ;  go  along 
by  the  side  of  the  horse  ;  take  hold  of  the  reins,  wade  through 
the  water  and  pull  the  horse  after  you.'  The  impression  was 
so  powerful  that  I  plunged  into  the  sea  immediately,  and 
soon  found  that  the  horse  had  got  into  a  quicksand,  as  the 
water  did  not  reach  up  to  my  breast.  I  kept  close  to  the 
shaft,  got  on  to  his  head,  took  hold  of  the  reins,  and  pulling 
him  forward  he  plunged  with  all  his  might  to  get  out  of  the 
sand,  and  I  drew  him  along  and  escaped  safe  to  the  shore. 
This  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  deliverances  of  my  life. 


394 


THE    WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


In  all  my  travels  in  Europe  and  America  I  never  was  in  sncli 
distress  before.  Yet  the  Lord  redeemed  my  life  from  de- 
struction and  saved  me  in  the  trying  hour."  He  soon  found 
a  welcome  retreat  in  the  home  of  a  friendly  stranger.  *'  After 
I  had  travelled  about  a  mile  through  the  wood,"  he  says,  "  I 
found  a  little  cottage  belonging  to  a  French  refugee,  who  had 
left  all  for  the  sake  of  his  conscience,  where  I  was  glad  to 
take  up  my  abode  for  that  night.  I  was  thoroughly  wet  from 
head  to  foot  and  had  nothing  dry  to  put  on,  for  all  my  linen, 
clothes,  and  books  in  the  chaise  had  been  under  water  a  con- 
siderable time.  The  honest  Frenchman  was  remarkably  kind. 
He  lent  me  a  shirt,  and  his  own  clothes,  to  put  on  till  mine 
could  be  dried.  They  made  up  a  huge  fire  and  hung  all  my 
clothes  and  linen  around,  and  sat  up  most  of  the  night  to  get 
them  properly  dried.  Then  next  day  when  I  had  gotten  my 
things  a  little  in  order  I  took  leave  of  my  kind  friends  and 

set  forward." 

He  now  came  to  the  Boundary  House,  which  stood  exactly 
upon  the  line  which  divided  the  two  Carolinas.  Here  he  jmt 
up  for  the  night  and  found  the  accommodations  remarkably 
good.  "The  next  morning,"  says  Pilmoor,  "Mr.  Merrion 
would  not  take  anything  of  me,  but  sent  a  negro  with  two 
horses  fifteen  miles  to  help  me  along  my  journey  toward  Mr. 
Moors's.  Here  I  met  with  a  kind  reception  indeed.  Mr. 
Moors  is  a  lover  of  all  good  men  and  rejoices  in  the  prosperity 
of  Zion.  The  day  following  I  found  he  had  sent  word  to  all 
his  neighbors  that  he  had  a  minister  at  his  house  and  there 
would  be  a  sermon  about  twelve  o'clock.  At  the  time  ap- 
pointed a  fine  company  assembled,  to  whom  I  preached 
Christ  Jesus." 

The  next  day,  March  23,  1773,  he  hastened  to  Brunswick. 
As  soon  as  he  arrived  there  he  sent  a  person  round  the  town 
to  publish  preaching  at  five  o'clock,  at  which  time  he  had  a 
good  congregation,  "who  all  behaved  as  if  they  felt  that  God 
was  there."  The  following  day  there  was  a  large  congrega- 
tion in  the  church,  to  whom  Pilmoor  preached  with  "  light 
and  liberty."  Early  in  the  afternoon  he  started  for  Wilming- 
ton, North  Carolina,  and  soon  encountered  winds  and  waves. 


THUNDER   AND    TEMPEST   ON    LAND    AND    WATER      395 

''  The  wind  rose  high  and  blew  right  up  the  river,  so  it  was 
impracticable  to  get  over,"  he  says.  "This  was  the  more 
distressing,  as  there  was  no  house,  and  I  was  likely  to  be  de- 
tained on  the  island  all  night.  Presently  the  dreadful 
lightnings  flashed  all  around  me  in  a  most  terrible  manner, 
the  rolling  thunder  burst  over  my  head,  the  wind  blew  tem- 
pestuously and  brought  a  very  high  tide  which  flowed  all 
around  me.  As  I  had  no  other  shelter  I  put  up  the  head  of 
the  chaise  and  expected  I  must  stay  there  all  night.  I  was 
very  uneasy  on  account  of  the  tide,  as  I  did  not  know  how 
hiuh  it  midit  rise.  When  the  wind  and  the  thunder  abated 
I  started  for  the  boat,  which  presently  arrived  and  took  me 
over  to  the  town.  I  went  directly  to  Mr.  Walker's,  where  I 
met  Mr.  Sutherland,  a  gentleman  who  has  frequently  heard 
me  preach  in  Philadelphia  and  seemed  exceedingly  glad  to 
meet  with  me.  This  day  has  been  trying  indeed.  I  have 
been  in  perils  by  land  and  perils  by  water— the  heavens 
bursting  with  thunders  over  my  head  and  forked  lightnings 
flying  all  around  me,  while  I  was  detained  on  a  desolate 
island.  Yet  the  Lord  has  kept  me.  He  has  been  my  hiding 
place  from  the  wind  and  my  covert  from  the  tempest." 

The  next  evening  he  preached  in  the  court-house  in  AVil- 
mington  to  a  large  assembly,  and  the  succeeding  forenoon  he 
delivered  another  sermon  and  then  rode  fifteen  miles.  On 
Sunday,  March  28th,  he  preached  at  Beesley's  Chapel  to  many 
people.  While  preaching  several  persons  went  to  a  pail  that 
stood  near  the  door  to  get  water  to  drink,  for  which  conduct 
he  openly  reproved  them.  On  Monday  he  travelled  above 
forty  miles  through  the  woods  and  came  in  the  evening  to 
White  Oak,  where  he  "  rested  among  the  followers  of  Christ." 
The  next  day  he  proceeded  slowly  to  New  Berne  and  preached 
there  in  the  evening,  and  also  twice  the  succeeding  day. 
"  People  of  fashion  in  this  town,"  he  remarks,  "  think  it  a 
privilege  to  hear  the  gospel." 

In  going  over  the  Albemarle  Sound,  on  the  third  of 
April,  "the  wind  was  contrary,  but  as  there  was  room  enough 
to  tack  about  I  thought  we  might  do  very  well.  Two  gentle- 
men came  after  us  in  a  canoe  intreating  us  to  go  back  and 


396 


THE   WESLEYATf   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


preach  in  their  parish  churches  on  the  Sunday,  but  my  heart 
was  set  upon  Edenton  and  therefore  could  not  comply.  We 
strove  to  get  over,  but  the  negroes,  who  had  no  mind  to  go 
forward,  soon  ran  us  aground,  where  we  stayed  till  near  sunset, 
but  could  not  get  off.  I  resolved  to  take  a  few  things  which 
I  should  want  and  venture  over  in  the  canoe,  and  about  nine 
o'clock  got  to  shore.  Having  been  nearly  seven  hours  on  the 
water,  I  was  exceedingly  fatigued.  My  expenses  for  horses, 
feiTiages,  etc.,  this  day  amounted  to  one  pound  fifteen  and 

two  pence." 

On  Sunday,  April  4,  1773,  he  went  to  church  at  Edenton 
and  heard  a  sermon  on  the  Sufferings  of  Christ,  which  was 
delivered  in  "  a  cold,  lifeless  manner,"  and  without  much  im- 
pression upon  the  people.  In  the  afternoon  Pilmoor 
preached  with  power  in  the  court-house  to  a  large  congrega- 
tion, and  again  in  the  evening.  "  I  found  a  longing  desire 
for  the  salvation  of  the  people,"  he  says,  "  whom  I  en- 
treated to  give  themselves  to  the  Lord.  When  I  returned  to 
the  Inn  several  persons  followed  me,  with  whom  I  spent  an 
hour  most  agreeably  in  conversing  of  the  things  of  God  and 
the  heavenly  world." 

The  next  day  he  travelled  about  forty  miles,  and  the  day 
succeeding,  namely,  April  6,  1773,  he  reached  Norfolk.  The 
people  hailed  his  return  with  rejoicing. 

On  Thursday,  the  8th  of  April,  he  went  to  Portsmouth, 
"  and  preached*^  to  a  great  multitude  of  people  on  Our 
Saviour's  Agony  in  the  Garden,  and  the  next  day,  being  Good 
Friday,  on  the  Sufferings  of  Christ  on  Mt.  Calvary."  In  the 
afternoon  he  "preached  Christ  Crucified  in  Norfolk"  to  a 
large  and  deeply  serious  congregation.  The  following  day 
he  met  the  society  in  Portsmouth,  "and  joined  two  new 
members  and  readmitted  a  penitent  backslider." 

He  preached  in  Norfolk  on  Sunday  afternoon,  April  11th, 
1773,  and  noted  the  contrast  between  his  reception  now  and 
that  which  he  received  when  he  first  went  there.  Then  "I 
was  but  little  regarded,"  he  says;  "now  they  treat  me  as  if  I 
were  an  angel  of  God." 

Eobert  Williams,  who  the  preceding  month  was  at  the 


riLMOOR  AND   WILLIAMS   AGAIN   IN   NORFOLK       397 


Kev.  Devereux  Jarratt's  and  in  the  region  contiguous,  was 
now  at  Norfolk.  During  the  four  weeks  in  the  spring  of 
1773  that  Pilmoor  remained  in  and  about  that  town  he  and 
Williams  were  together  on  several  occasions.  On  the  thir- 
teenth of  April  Pilmoor  remarks  that  he  "went  over  the 
water  to  hear  Mr.  Williams."  The  ensuing  day  he  was  taken 
into  the  country  to  a  place  he  does  not  name,  but  at  which 
he  says  "I  found  a  fine  congregation  and  preached  with 
particular  unction.  Afterwards  I  met  the  society  I  had 
formed  before  I  went  to  the  South,  took  in  a  new  member 
and  was  greatly  comforted  in  speaking  with  them  about  ex- 
perimental religion."  Thus  it  appears  that  in  the  period  of 
about  five  months  that  he  labored  in  Virginia  before  leaving 
for  Savannah  he  not  only  formed  a  society  in  Norfolk  and 
one  in  Portsmouth,  but  also  another  in  a  contiguous  rural 
place,  which  on  his  return  from  his  lengthened  Southern  tour 
he  found  was  still  in  existence. 

Pilmoor  introduced  the  watch  meeting  in  Norfolk  on  the 
27th  of  April,  1773.  Of  this  occasion  he  says  :  "  At  eight  in 
the  evening  our  first  watch  night  in  Virginia  began.  Many 
people  came  flocking  to  see  what  we  should  do,  which  gave 
me  a  fine  opportunity  of  showing  them  the  necessity  of  watch- 
ing and  prayer.  Mr.  Williams  assisted  me."  Pilmoor  also 
says  that  two  days  later,  namely,  April  29,  1773,  Williams 
preached  in  Norfolk. 

The  time  of  Pilmoor's  final  departure  from  the  South  is 
now  at  hand.  In  the  four  weeks  spent  at  this  time  in  Nor- 
folk and  the  vicinity  he  was  busily  employed.  He  visited 
from  house  to  house,  conversed  with  inquirers,  preached  the 
Gospel  and  added  members  to  the  societies.  He  also  felt  the 
presence  of  bodily  infirmity.  "  My  constitution,"  he  -svrites, 
*'  has  suffered  exceedingly  since  my  arrival  in  America,  but 
I  do  not  repent.  If  I  die  here  it  is  quite  as  well  as  if  I  died 
in  England,  provided  I  die  in  the  Lord ;  and  I  have  not  a 
shadow  of  doubt." 

On  Sunday,  May  2,  1773,  he  gave  two  valedictory  dis- 
courses. The  morning  sermon  appears  to  have  been 
preached  at  Portsmouth.     "  At  ten  o'clock,"  he  says,  "  I  had 


398 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


PILMOOR   ROBBED 


399 


a  prodigous  multitude  to  hear  my  farewell  sermon  on  the 
Apostolical    benediction-' The    grace   of    our   Lord   Jesus 
Christ    the  love  of  God,  and  the  communion  of  the  Holy 
Ghost'  be  with  you  all.'     The  people  were  exceedingly  af- 
fected and  we  parted  in  hope  of  meeting  in  glory.     At  night 
the  congregation  at  Norfolk  was  large  and  remarkably  seri- 
ous while  I  delivered  my  last  sermon  to  them.     I  felt  as  if  I 
could  spend  my  very  life  in  striving  for  their  happiness  and 
salvation.     Many  of  them  wept  much  at  the  thought  of  part- 
ing, especially  as  it  is  probable  they  wiU  see  my  face  no 
more."      He   went   to  Colonel    Yeal's   and   thence   to   Mr. 
Hughes's.     A  large  number  of  his  friends  had  crossed  the 
water  and  desired  to  hear  him  again.     He  preached  in  the 
open  air  and  then  returned  to  the  house  and  prayed  with 
them  once  more.     He  then  met  a  society   and  closed   the 
day  "  very  weary,  but  very  happy."    His  last  leave-taking  with 
his  Vircrinia  friends  occurred  on  the  third  of  May,  1773.     The 
affecting  occasion  he  shall  describe  :  "  I  had  a  great  number 
of  persons  take  leave  of  me  at  Mr.  Taylor's,  where  we  joined  m 
solemn  prayer.     I  left  them  with  an  heart  overwhelmed  with 
sorrow.     T  was  obliged  to  be  resolute  and  tear  myself  away 
from  a  people  who  are  exceedingly  dear  to  me,  being  the 
fruits  of  my  labors  in  this  place  and  seals  of  my  ministry." 

He  now   travelled  northward.      We    trace   his   progress 
briefly.     At  Suffolk  he  preached  to  a  fine  congregation  out 
of  doors.     With  William  Watters,  who  was  yet  in  Virginia,  he 
went  to  Hogg's  Island.     Then  he  crossed  James  Eiver  and 
rode  to   Williamsburg ;  travelled  through  a  fine  country  to 
New  Castle,  a  small  town  on  a  branch  of  York  Kiver.     There 
he  hired  a  boy  to  go  round  and  call  the  people  together,  and 
at  one  o'clock  preached  to  a  fine  congregation.    At  Fredericks- 
burcr  he  obtained  the  court-house  for  preaching,  and  again 
hired  a  boy  to  publish  it,  and  at  five  o'clock  the  house  of 
justice  was  nearly  filled  by  the  principal  inhabitants,  and 
-  the  word  was  clothed  with  power."     At  Dumfrees,  on  the 
Potomac,  he  preached  at  an  inn,  and  thence  went  to  Alexan- 
dria, where  he  was  very  sick,  but  preached  in  the  court- 
house, which  was  almost  full,  on  Monday,  May  17,  1773. 


/ 

^ 


At  Alexandria  he  was  peculiarly  tired.  Money  that  had 
been  intrusted  to  him  was  stolen  from  his  trunk.  Occasion 
was  taken  of  the  afflicting  circumstance  to  asperse  the 
preacher.  He  describes  the  affair  thus  :  "  When  I  returned 
to  my  room  at  the  Inn  to  prepare  to  set  forward  on  my  jour- 
ney, I  found  my  trunk  broken  open,  and  forty  pounds,  Penn- 
sylvania currency,  taken  away.  This  was  a  trial  indeed,  as 
the  money  belonged  to  a  gentleman  who  brought  it  to  me  in 
Norfolk  to  pay  to  his  correspondent  in  Burlington,  New 
Jersey.  I  thought  it  best  to  stir  about  it  immediately,  went 
to  a  magistrate  and  got  a  search  warrant  to  examine  the 
house.  We  searched  every  place  in  the  house  where  we  had 
the  least  suspicion,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  I  then  spoke 
with  the  chamber-maid — a  girl  from  Ireland — and  as  I  was 
fully  persuaded  she  was  the  thief,  endeavored  to  prevail  with 
her  to  confess,  but  she  in  the  most  solemn  manner  denied  it. 
Notwithstanding,  it  was  generally  believed  she  was  guilty, 
and  I  was  advised  to  take  her  before  a  magistrate  and  com- 
mit her  to  jail.  When  this  was  done,  she  denied  it  in  such 
an  awful  manner,  that  I  began  to  be  in  doubt  whether  she 
might  not  be  innocent,  and  had  several  negroes  examined, 
and  searched  the  kitchen,  stable,  etc.,  but  nothing  could  be 
found. 

"  Hitherto  I  had  a  hope  the  money  would  be  found,  but 
everything  looked  so  dark,  I  now  began  to  be  in  doubt. 
Some  gentlemen  in  the  town  have  given  it  out  that  I  have 
not  been  robbed  at  all,  but  have  invented  this  affecting  tale 
in  order  to  get  money  from  the  inhabitants.  This  cut  me  to 
the  very  heart,  as  I  was  a  stranger  in  the  place  and  professed 
to  be  a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  But  I  was  enabled  to  spread 
all  my  troubles  before  the  Lord,  and  he  gave  me  a  hope  that 
notwithstanding  the  darkness  of  the  prospect,  he  would 
undertake  for  me.  As  I  was  walking  in  the  garden  a  poor 
young  man  came  to  me  and  presently  withdrew.  Seeing  no 
appearance  of  anything  hidden  in  the  garden,  I  went  into 
the  house,  where  I  had  not  been  long  before  he  came  running 
to  me  almost  out  of  breath  and  cried,  *  O  Mr.  Pilmoor,  I  have 
found  your  money.'     We  found  eight  pounds  wanting,  but  I 


40O 


THE    WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN    AMERICA 


was  glad  I  had  recovered  so  much,  especially  as  the  gentle- 
men will  now  be  convinced  of  their  slanderous  reports  and 
will  perhaps  think  more  favorably  of  me  in  future.  At  any 
rate  religion  will  not  suffer."  After  he  returned  to  Philadel- 
phia he  received  a  remittance  of  a  portion  of  the  remainder 
of  the  stolen  money,  and  learned  that  the  Irish  chamber-maid 
whom  he  had  suspicioned  was  the  thief. 

Leaving  Alexandria  May  18,  1773,  Pilmoor  went  to 
Georgetown,  and  called  on  Mr.  James  Wood,  whose  wife  was 
a  convert  of  his  ministry  and  belonged  to  St.  George's,  Phila- 
delphia. The  following  day  they  sent  an  invitation  to  their 
neighbors  to  hear  their  former  pastor.  He  preached  to  a 
congregation  of  the  poor  at  eleven  o'clock.  After  preaching 
he  was  quite  sick.  Becoming  better  he  says  ''  I  resolved  not 
to  lose  a  moment,  but  begged  them  to  call  the  people  together 
again,  which  they  did,  and  I  preached  to  many  more  hearers 
than  we  had  in  the  forenoon.  The  next  morning  I  set  off 
very  early  and  went  about  eight  miles  to  Bladen sburg." 

He  was  now  a])])roaching  Baltimore.  So  long  unknown 
as  the  founder  of  Methodism  in  that  important  American  city, 
he  must  ever  hereafter  bear  that  distinction.  The  vine  which 
he  there  planted  in  the  summer  of  1772  lived  and  was  fruit- 
ful while  he  was  absent  in  the  South.  It  has  been  one  of 
the  most  luxuriant  of  all  that  the  sons  of  Wesley  have  planted 
in  America.     Pilmoor  now  returns  to  give  it  further  nurture. 

From  Bladensburg  to  Baltimore  the  distance  was  forty-two 
miles  of  very  bad  road,  "  so  that  I  was  heartily  tired,"  he 
says,  "  when  I  came  to  my  friend,  Mr.  George  Dagan's,  where 
I  met  with  the  kindest  reception."  The  next  day  he  went 
among  his  friends  in  Baltimore,  who  rejoiced  to  see  him 
again.  In  the  evening  of  May  21  he  took  his  "  old  stand  on 
the  hill,"  and  preached  the  gospel  *'  to  a  listening  multitude  ; 
the  evening  was  calm  and  remarkably  pleasant  and  the  people 
all  deeply  attentive." 

The  next  day  he  was  in  the  Baltimore  jail,  where  the 
tears  of  the  prisoners  told  of  the  effect  of  the  Gospel  upon 
their  hearts.  The  same  evening  he  preached  again  out  of 
doors. 


pilmoor' S   LAST   SUNDAY   IN   BALTIMORE 


401 


He  preached  in  the  Dutch  Church  on  Sunday,  May  23,  at 
seven  in  the  morning  and  at  ten  in  the  English  Presbyterian 
meeting.  They  begged  him  to  preach  again  in  the  afternoon, 
which  he  did,  and  at  night  had  a  refreshing  season  with  the 
Methodist  society  at  Mr.  Dagan's.  After  the  meeting  he  met 
a  young  man  who  was  one  of  his  hearers  in  AVales,  who  brought 
him  good  news  from  a  far  country.  On  Monday  he  went  a 
distance  of  about  seven  miles,  where  he  "  found  a  large  con- 
gregation waiting  and  began  immediately  to  preach  Christ." 
The  following  day  he  went  to  John  W^atters's,  at  or  near  Deer 
Creek.  The  next  day  many  of  the  neighbors  assembled,  to 
whom  he  preached. 

Pilmoor  anticipated  much  pleasure  in  visiting  his  dear 
friend,  Josias  Dallam,  but  on  going  to  his  house  he  found 
that  he  and  Mrs.  Dallam  were  in  Philadelphia.  He  remained 
all  night  at  their  home  and  had  a  happy  visit  with  the  rest  ui 
the  family.  The  next  day  he  preached  at  Bushtown.  He 
then  returned  to  Josias  Dallam's,  and  at  the  desire  of  the  ser- 
vants preached  in  the  evening  to  a  fine  congregation.  The 
following  day.  May  28,  1773,  he  went  to  Eichard  Dallam's, 
where  he  preached  at  about  noon.  In  the  afternoon  he  heard 
that  Mr.  Josias  Dallam  had  returned  to  his  home.  "  I  has- 
tened away  to  see  him,"  he  says,  "  and  spent  the  evening  in 
the  utmost  harmony.  Just  before  we  went  to  rest  Mr.  Board- 
man  came  in.  As  I  had  not  seen  him  in  more  than  a  year 
my  heart  rejoiced  exceedingly  at  our  meeting,  and  we  found 
our  spirits  most  closely  united  in  the  fellowship  of  the  gospel 
and  the  communion  of  saints." 

Boardman  had  been  travelling  widely  since  he  and  Pil- 
moor last  met.  He  was  in  Maryland  the  previous  year,  as 
we  learn  from  Asbury,  and  in  that  year  he  also  was  in  New 
England.  He  had  made  somewhere  a  tour,  an  account  of 
which  he  gave  in  a  letter  to  Mary  Thorn.  The  letter  is  dated 
simply  May  25th,  and  probably  was  written  just  before  he 
and  Pilmoor  met  at  the  home  of  Mr.  Dallam  at  Deer  Creek,  on 
the  above  occasion.  It  was  written  at  Mr.  Steadham's,  and  a 
Mr.  Steadham  was  then  a  leading  Methodist  in  Wilmington, 
Delaware.     In   this  epistle  Boardman  said :    *'  I  liave  been 


402 


THE  WESLEYAX   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


througli  my  circuit.  The  rides  are  long,  the  roads  bad,  the 
living  very  poor.  But  what  more  than  compensates  for  these 
difficulties  is  a  prospect  of  advancing  the  Kedeemer's  kingdom, 
in  bringing  sinners  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus.  In  the  greater  part  of  this  round  the  people  were 
wicked  and  ignorant  to  a  lamentable  degree— destitute  of  the 
fear  and  regardless  of  the  worship  of  God.  But  sucli  a  refor- 
mation is  wrought  among  them  as  shows  the  amazing  love 
and  almighty  power  of  God.  It  would  do  you  good  to  hear 
them,  when  the  business  of  the  day  is  done  in  the  fields, 
wrostlinpf  in  prayer  with  God,  or  singing  his  praise  with  joy- 
ful lips. 

"  I  trust  you  find  your  own  soul  alive  to  God,  growing  in 
grace,  advancing  in  knowledge  of  Christ's  love,  the  devil's 
malice,  your  own  great  nothingness.  Expect  much;  you  can- 
not be  disappointed.  Do  what  little  you  can  to  bring  much 
glory  to  God.  Forsake  yourself  and  sometimes  your  beloved 
retirement  to  stir  up  yourself  and  others  to  go  forward. 
Charge  your  heart  neither  to  murmur  nor  repine,  but  to  trust 
without  wavering,  to  believe  without  doubting,  to  be  active 
witliout  fainting.  Yery  soon  you  shall  praise  and  adore 
witht  )ut  ceasing." 

Pilmoor  rode  forward  on  the  29th  of  May,  to  Mr.  Giles's,  at 
Rock  Eun,  where  he  met  with  and  preached  to  many  friends. 
On  Sunday  morning  he  preached  again  to  a  large  congrega- 
tion. Accompanied  by  several  friends  he  went  "to  Mr. 
Dallam's,  at  Deer  Creek,  which  is  the  first  place  I  preached 
in  Maryland,"  he  says,  "and  found  a  vast  multitude  of  people 
gathered  from  all  parts.  As  I  was  obliged  to  exert  myself, 
and  the  day  being  very  hot,  it  fatigued  me  so  much  that  I 
was  almost  exhausted." 

Pilmoor,  on  the  31st  of  May,  hastened  forward  to  Philadel- 
phia. With  difficult  travelling  he  reached  Christeen  Bridge, 
where  he  preached  to  "  a  vast  congregation."  June  first  he 
preached  at  New  Castle,  Delaware.  In  the  evening  he 
preached  at  Wilmington  to  a  large  congregation.  The  next 
day  at  eleven  he  preached  at  Chester,  and  thence  went  to 
Kingcess,  where  he  was  met  by  a  number  of  Philadelphians. 


PILMOOR  BACK   IN   PHILADELPHIA 


403 


At  Philadelphia,  he  says,  "  I  was  received  by  my  honorable 
friend,  Mr.  John  Wallace,  as  if  I  had  been  an  angel  of  God." 
He  left  Philadelphia  for  the  Sou^h  May  27,  1772,  and  re- 
turned to  it  June  2,  1773. 

Concerning  this  tour  he  now  in  Philadeli^hia  indulged 
reminiscent  thoughts.    "  It  is  above  a  year,"  he  writes,  "  since 
I  left  this  city.     I  set  out  with  a  consciousness  of  duty,  and 
was  determined  to  obey  what  to  me  was  a  call  from  above. 
I  was  totally  unacquainted  with  the  people,  the  road,  and 
everything  else.     I  only  knew  that  there  were  multitudes  of 
souls  scattered  through  a  vast  extent  of  country,  and  was  will- 
ing to    encounter   any  difficulty  and  undergo    the  greatest 
hardships  so  I  might  win  them  to  Christ.     My  plan  was  to 
follow  the  leadings  of  Providence,  and  go  wherever  the  '  tu- 
telary cloud'  should  direct.     With  this  view,  I  turned  my 
face  to  the  South,  and  went  forward  above  a  thousand  miles 
through  the  provinces,  visiting  most  of  the  towns  between 
Philadelphia  and  Savannah  in  Georgia,  where  I  preached  the 
gospel  of  Christ.     At  Savannah  I  had  several  invitations  to 
go  forward  towards  Florida,  but  my  mind  was  so  strongly 
drawn  towards  the  people  where  I  had  already  been,  who  en- 
treated me  to  turn  my  face  towards  the  North  and  visit  them 
again,  that  I  resolved  to  comply  with  their  request,  and  vent- 
ured through  the  country  again.     I  found  to  my  great  satis- 
faction that  I  had  not  labored  in  vain.     I  have  been  in  many 
dangers  by  land  and  by  water.     My  difficulties  in  passing 
through  so  many  provinces  without  a  guide  have  been  very 
considerable  and  often  discouraging.     I  can  say  with  the  ut- 
most confidence,  I  have  done  it  with  all  sincerity  and  up- 
rightness of  heart,  and  blessed  be  God,  I  have  not  labored  in 
vain.     His  presence  was  with  me,  his  word  ran,  and  was 
glorified,  and  sinners  were  savingly  converted  to  God." 


CHAPTEK  XXIV. 

THE    ARRIVAL    OF     RANKIN    AND     SHADFORD     AND     THEIR     FIRST 

LABORS    IN    AMERICA. 


Thomas  Kankin  went  up  to  the  Conference  which  opened 
at  Leeds  on  the  fourth  of  August,  1772,  and  says:  "Here  I 
met  with  Mr.  Webb,  \\hu  had  lately  arrived  from  America." 
George  Shadford  was  also  there  and  writes :  "  I  went  to  the 
Leeds  Conference,  where  I  first  saw  Captain  Webb.  When 
he  warmly  exhorted  preachers  to  go  to  America,  I  felt  my 
heart  stirred  within  me  to  go,  more  especially  when  I  under- 
stood that  many  hundreds  of  precious  souls  were  perishing 
through  lack  of  knowledge,  scattered  up  and  down  in  various 
parts  of  the  woods  and  had  none  to  warn  them  of  their 
danger." 

Both  Eankin  and  Shadford  at  this  Conference  were  des- 
ignated for  America.  "  Mr.  Eankin  and  I,"  says  Shadford, 
*'  offered  ourselves  to  go  the  spring  following,  when  I  received 
a  letter  from  Mr.  Wesley  informing  me  that  I  was  to  embark 
with  Captain  Webb  at  Bristol."  Thus  read  the  letter: 
''  Dejir  George  : — The  time  is  arrived  for  you  to  embark  for 
America.  You  must  go  down  to  Bristol,  where  you  will  meet 
with  Thomas  Rankin,  Captain  \\'ebb  and  his  wife.  I  let  you 
loose,  George,  on  the  great  continent  of  America.  Publish 
your  message  in  the  open  face  of  the  sun  and  do  all  the  good 
you  can.  I  am,  dear  George,  yours  affectionately,  John 
W^esley." 

Wesley  was  not  content  with  the  administration  of  the 
American  section  of  his  world-parish.  What  all  the  reasons 
for  his  dissatisfaction  were  probably  cannot  now  be  ascer- 
tained. Rankin  says :  "  Mr.  W^esley  had  been  dissatisfied 
with  the  conduct  of  those  who  superintended  the  rising  work 


WHOM    DID    RANKIN   SUPERSEDE? 


405 


there,  and  while  I  was  in  London  he  had  frequently  men- 
tioned this  to  me.  I  had  made  it  a  matter  of  much  prayer, 
and  it  appeared  to  me  that  the  way  was  open  for  me  to  go. 
When  the  work  in  America  came  before  the  Conference  Mr. 
Wesley  determined  to  appoint  me  superintendent  of  the 
whole."*  Rankin's  appointment  then  was  settled  early  in 
August,  1772.  Boardman  at  that  time  was  in  charge  of  the 
American  field.  Therefore  the  assertions  by  Dr.  Stevens, 
that  "Asburyhad  probably  asked  to  be  relieved  by  such  a 
successor,"  and  that  "  difficulties  had  arisen  under  the  admin- 
istration of  Asbury,"  are  clearly  erroneous,  t  Asbury  had  not 
then  superseded  Boardman  in  the  American  superintendency. 
Not  until  more  than  two  months  after  Rankin's  designation 
as  W^esley's  superintendent  in  America  did  Asbury  receive 
his  commission  to  that  office  ;  for  on  the  tenth  of  October, 
1772,  the  latter  in  his  Journal  says  :  *'  I  received  a  letter  from 
Mr.  W^esley  in  which  he  appointed  me  to  act  as  assistant."  It  is 
apparent,  then,  that  whatever  difficulties  may  have  arisen,  they 
did  not  occur  under  Asbury's  administration  as  "  assistant " 
prior  to  Rankin's  appointment ;  nor  could  he  have  ''  asked  to 
be  relieved  by  such  a  successor,"  for  the  reason  that  up  to 
that  time  he  had  not  been  promoted  to  the  superintendency. 
Wesley  intrusted  him  with  the  responsibility  thereof  from 
October,  1772,  until  the  arrival  of  his  already  designated  suc- 
cessor, which  was  on  the  third  day  of  the  following  Judc.  AVe 
have  seen  that  after  Asbury  came  hither  the  societies  in 
Philadelphia  and  New  York  were  disturbed  by  his  criticisms 
and  apparent  exercise  of  power,  but  it  appears  he  was  not  at 
that  time  chief  in  authority.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  plain  from 
Asbury's  statements  that  Boardman  was  in  charge  until 
October,  1772. 

We  have  seen  in  former  pages  evidence  of  strained  rela- 
tions between  AYesley  and  his  first  two  missionaries  to  this 
country.  We  are  now  to  see  a  fuller  account  thereof  by  Pil- 
moor.  Just  after  his  return  from  the  South,  and  the  very 
next  day  after  the  arrival  of  Rankin  and  Shadford  at  Phila- 

*  Rankin  in  Lives  of  Early  Methodist  Preachers,  Vol.  V.,  pp.  18^5-4.     London, 
t  See  Stevens's  History  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  Vol.  I.,  p.  142. 


406 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


delphia,  Pilmoor  in  that  city  wrote  as  follows :  "  A  day  of 
sharp  tribulation.  Since  I  came  to  America  I  have  had  in- 
numerable trials,  and  many  of  them  from  persons  I  least  of 
all  expected.  For  more  than  two  years  Mr.  Wesley,  who 
should  have  been  a  compassionate  father  to  us,  has  treated 
us  in  a  manner  not  to  be  mentioned.  During  that  time  we 
have  not  had  so  much  as  a  single  letter  we  could  read  to  the 
people.  Nothing  but  jealous  reflections,  unkind  suspicions, 
and  sharp  reproofs  came  from  under  his  hand,  which  greatly 
discouraged  us  in  the  work,  and  would  certainly  have  driven 
us  away  if  we  had  not  regarded  the  work  of  the  Lord  above 
everything.  For  a  long  time  I  was  able  to  bear  it  without 
hurting  my  mind.  But  at  length  the  trials  came  on  so  fast 
that  I  began  to  reason  with  the  enemy  and  my  own  evil 
heart ;  then  the  usage  I  met  with  seized  on  my  spirit  and 
threw  me  into  such  distress  that  it  presently  destroyed  my 
health  and  brought  such  weakness  upon  my  whole  nervous 
system  that  I  was  on  the  very  borders  of  melancholy  and  in 
the  utmost  danger  of  losing  my  senses.  When  I  reflected  on 
the  duties  I  had  gone  through,  the  hardships  I  had  suffered, 
the  rectitude  of  heart  with  which  I  had  acted,  and  the  glorious 
success  that  had  attended  my  labors,  I  was  greatly  amazed 
that  Mr.  Weslev  should  treat  me  as  if  I  had  been  the  foulest 
offender  and  an  enemy  to  God  and  mankind.     O,  my  God,  I 

cry  to  thee." 

No  doubt  letters  containing  criticisms  of  the  preachers 
reached  Wesley  from  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  That  he  was 
too  ready  to  accept  as  just  the  reflections  of  fault-finders  and 
the  animadversions  of  those  whose  views  of  the  work  differed 
from  tliose  honestly  entertained  by  Boardman  and  Pilmoor 
may  be  true.  That  they  labored  in  this  country  with  general 
and  marked  acceptability  to  the  societies,  and  with  devotion, 
<liligence,  and  success,  is  beyond  question.  They  toiled  here 
also  when  other  Wesleyan  preachers  were  unwilling  to  venture 
upon  this  remote  field.  An  undated  letter  from  Pilmoor  to  a 
friend  in  England,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  preacher,  and 
which  was  written  in  New  York  before  Asbury  came  hither, 
breathes  the  heroic  spirit  and  illustrates  the  toils  and  sacri- 


PILMOOR  WRITES  TO   ENGLAND 


407 


fices  of  the  missionaries  here.  In  that  letter  Pilmoor  says  : 
"  I  have  been  waiting  with  eager  expectation  for  some  of  the 
brethren  to  come  over  to  our  Macedonia  and  help  us.  But, 
ah  me !  there  are  so  many  things  to  give  up  before  one  can 
cross  the  Atlantic  that  it  seems  too  much  even  for  a  Metho- 
dist preacher.  I  find  by  Mr.  Wesley's  letter  that  none  were 
willing  to  come,  so  that  it  is  very  uncertain  whether  ever  we 
shall  have  the  opportunity  of  returning  to  Old  England  or 
not.  But  blessed  be  God,  we  know  what  was  our  intention 
in  leaving  all  that  was  dear  to  us  in  order  to  visit  those  dear, 
dear  Americans  ;  and  as  we  came  in  singleness  of  heart,  the 
Lord  has  greatly  blessed  us,  both  in  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia. Our  congregations  are  very  large  and  very  serious ; 
trifling  seems  to  have  no  place  at  present,  for  sinners  are  en- 
cased about  the  vast  concerns  of  the  invisible  world ;  even 
the  poor  negroes  are  turning  to  God,  and  seeking  to  wash 
their  robes  and  make  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 
We  have  about  twentv  black  women  who  meet  in  one  class, 
and  I  think  upon  the  whole  they  are  as  happy  as  any  class. 
Many  people  of  superior  rank  come  to  hear  the  word  and 
are  very  friendly.  The  chief  difliculty  is  the  want  of  ordina- 
tion, and  I  believe  we  shall  be  obliged  to  procure  it  in  some 
form  or  other.  Perhaps  you  will  say  I  speak  too  much  in 
favor  of  the  Americans,  but  I  do  assure  you  the  half  is  not 
yet  told  you,  and  I  freely  wish  3^ou  would  come  and  prove  the 
truth  of  what  I  say.  If  you  will  but  come  I  assure  you  that 
you  will  not  want  anything  that  is  good.  The  people  here 
are  very  kind,  and  take  pleasure  in  providing  for  the  Meth- 
odist preacher."  * 

That  such  men,  so  abundant  in  labor,  should  thus  have 
been  subjected  to  irritating  criticism  from  Mr.  AYesley  seems 
unaccountable.  They  went  forth  weeping,  and  returned  with 
many  sheaves.  Pilmoor,  however,  declares  that  *'Mr.  Board- 
man  and  I  had  been  shamefully  misrepresented  to  Mr.  Wes- 
ley."    Kanldn  now  was  put  in  charge  of  the  Wesleyan  cause 

*  This  letter  is  given  by  Lockwood  in  his  Western  Pioneers.  He  asserts  that 
the  original  manuscript  has  no  address,  but  has  as  a  superscription  ''To  Miss  Bosan- 
quet."    Lockwood  thinks  that  it  was  probably  addressed  to  Christopher  Hopper. 


408 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


in  America,  and  entered  upon  his  work  as  ruler  under  Wesley 
June  4,  1773.  Soon  after  his  arrival  at  Philadelphia  he  mdi- 
cated  in  his  Journal  one  of  the  reasons  why  Boardnian  and 
Pilmoor  were  censured.  "From  what  I  see  and  hear,"  he 
writes,  "and  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  if  my  brethren  who  first 
came  over  had  been  more  attentive  to  our  discipline  there 
would  have  been  a  more  glorious  work  by  this  time  in  many 
places.  Their  love-feasts  and  meetings  of  society  were  laid 
open  to  all  their  particular  friends,  so  that  their  number  did 
not  increase,  and  the  minds  of  our  best  friends  were  thereby 

Inirt."  ^ 

Thomas  Rankin  was  born  at  Dunbar,  in  the  town  of  East 
Lothian,  Scotland.  In  his  youth  he  learned  music  and  dan- 
cing, which  he  found  affected  unfavorably  his  occasional  as- 
pirations toward  a  spiritual  life.  He  was  benefited  by  the 
preaching  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lindsay,  of  North  Leith.  At 
Edinbiu'gh  he  also  heard  excellent  preaching.  At  length  he 
partook  of  the  sacrament  of  the  supper,  and  found  a  happi- 
ness he  had  never  known  before.  Then  he  heard  Whitefield, 
whose  ministry  gave  him  clearer  light,  and  led  him  into  a 
fuller  and  more  definite  religious  experience,  so  that  he  de- 
clares "I  had  no  more  doubt  of  my  interest  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  than  I  Lad  of  my  existence.  I  could  declare 
that  the  Son  of  Man  had  still  power  to  forgive  sins,  and  that 
he  had  pardoned  my  sins,  even  mine." 

He  came  to  America  on  business  after  his  conversion,  and 
spent  several  months  in  Charleston,  where  he  found  the  peo- 
ple "  appeared  to  be  a  dissipated  and  thoughtless  generation." 
While  there  he  chiefly  attended  a  Baptist  chapel,  whose  pas- 
tor was  "  the  only  minister  he  heard  who  seemed  to  speak 
home  to  the  consciences  of  his  hearers."  The  churches, 
however,  were  obseiwed  by  Rankin  to  be  ^'pretty  well  filled, 
and  the  people  seemed  to  hear  with  attention."  He  found 
that  he  was  "not  at  home  and  did  not  enjoy  that  depth  of 
communion  with  God,  either  in  public  or  private,  that  he 
experienced  in  Edinburgh."  He  made  a  stormy  voyage  back 
to  Britain. 

*Life  of  Rankin,  Jackson's  Lives,  Vol.  V.,  p.  191. 


RANKIN    AND   SlIADFOUD   SAIL   FOR   AMERICA        409 


Kankin  again  repeatedly  heard  Whitefield,  whose  sermons 
proved  a  great  blessing  to  him.  He  soon  recovered  all  that 
peace  and  joy  he  had  felt  before  he  went  to  America.  After 
a  time  he  began  to  preach  and  was  sent  by  Wesley  to  a  cir- 
cuit. At  the  Conference  of  1762  he  was  appointed  to  Shef- 
field circuit,  next  to  the  Devonshire  circuit,  and  in  1764,  to 
Cornwall.  He  continued  in  the  English  Wesleyan  itinerancy, 
going  from  circuit  to  circuit  until  the  Conference  of  1772, 
when  he  was  designated  by  Wesley  for  the  transatlantic  field. 
As  he  was  not  to  sail  until  the  next  spring  it  was  determined 
that  until  then  he  should  labor  in  York  Circuit.  There  he 
remained  until  about  the  end  of  March,  1773. 

In  coming  to  America  he  parted  from  on§  whom  he  deeply 
loved  and  who  subsequently  became  his  wife.  But  his  zeal 
for  the  work  swallowed  up  all  other  concerns.  He  rode  to 
Birmingham  to  see  and  receive  instructions  from  Wesley.  He 
had  an  interview  with  him  which  was  pleasing,  instructive, 
and  affecting,  and  which  he  hoped  never  to  forget.  On  Good 
Friday,  April  9,  1773,  he  with  Captain  and  Mrs.  Webb, 
George  Shadford,  and  Joseph  Yearby  sailed  from  Bristol  on 
the  ship  *'  Sally,"  commanded  by  Caj^tain  Young,  for  Phila- 
delphia. 

George  Shadford  was  born  at  Scotter,  Lincolnshire,  Eng- 
land, January  19,  1739.  He  had  early  religious  impressions, 
which,  however,  were  dissipated  by  his  natural  sportiveness 
and  his  indulgence  in  frolicsome  pastimes,  unsuitable  reading 
and  company.  He  joined  the  militia,  and  while  his  company 
lay  in  quarters  at  Gainsborough  he  heard  a  ^Fethodist 
preacher  and  "  received  more  light  from  that  single  sermon 
than  all  that  he  ever  heard  in  his  life  before."  He  went,  every 
Sunday  that  there  was  preaching,  to  the  same  place.  His 
seriousness  provoked  ridicule  from  his  companions,  and  he 
fell  into  sin  "  as  bad  or  worse  than  ever."  Not  long  after- 
ward he  again  came  under  strong  conviction.  Sometimes 
deeply  concerned,  and  at  other  times  gay  and  frivolous,  he 
came  to  the  age  of  twenty-three,  when,  on  the  first  Sunday  in 
May,  1762,  he  twice  heard  a  Methodist  preacher.  Towards 
the  end  of  the  second  of  those  sermons  he  trembled,  shook, 


410 


THE   WESLEY  AN    MOVEMENT   IN    AMERICA 


wept.  He  cried  out,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner."  At 
once  he  believed  and  in  an  instant  he  was  filled  with  divine 
love.  A  fortnight  after  he  united  with  the  Methodist  Society 
and  became  an  ardent,  active,  happy  worker  in  the  cause.  He 
soon  began  to  preach.  In  1768  Mr.  Wesley  called  him  into 
the  itinerancy  and  appointed  him  to  West  Cornwall ;  the  next 
year  he  was  sent  to  Kent  and  the  two  succeeding  years  he 
was  at  Norwich.  "After  a  comfortable  passage  of  eight 
weeks  he  arrived  safe  in  Philadelphia,"  and  with  his  fellow- 
voyagers,  Eankin,  Webb,  and  Yearby,  was  "  kindly  received 
by  a  hospitable  and  loving  people." 

Pilmoor  returned  to  Philadelphia  from  his  Southern 
itinerary  on  the  second  of  Jane,  1773,  just  in  time  to  welcome 
Wesley's  third  ministerial  deputation,  for  on  the  next  day 
after  his  return  Rankin,  Shadford,  and  Webb  arrived  in  that 
city.  Their  arrival  was  an  occasion  for  joy  to  the  American 
Methodists.  Under  date  of  June  3  Pilmoor  writes  :  "Cap- 
tain Webb,  with  his  lady,  with  two  preachers,  Messrs.  Rankin 
and  Shadford,  arrived  from  England.  Our  hearts  were  greatly 
rejoiced  at  the  sight  of  more  laborers."  Asbury,  too,  was  then 
in  Philadelphia.  His  Journal  is  silent  concerning  Pilmoor's 
return,  but  on  June  3  he  noted  the  arrival  of  Webb  and  three 
English  preachers  and  the  "great  comfort"  he  received  from 
this  ministerial  reinforcement.  After  stating  that  Mr.  Rankin 
preached  a  good  sermon,  presumably  the  day  that  he  arrived, 
Asbury  remarks  :  "He  will  not  be  admired  as  a  preacher, 
but  as  a  disciplinarian  he  will  fill  his  place." 

It  was  not  on  the  day  of  his  arrival,  however,  that  Rankin 
preached,  as  Asbury's  statement  under  that  date  would  lead 
us  to  presume,  and  as  Dr.  Stevens  mistakenly  asserts,  but  the 
evening  of  the  next  day,  as  Rankin  himself  affirms.  After 
preaching  he  "  met  the  leaders  of  classes  and  bands."  The 
following  evening  "  Mr.  Shadford,"  says  Rankin,  "  gave  a 
warm  exhortation."  That  exhortation  Pilmoor  describes. 
"  In  the  evening,"  he  says,  "  Mr.  Shadford  gave  an  exhortation 
which  he  called  True  Old  Methodism,  and  seemed  to  intimate 
the  people  had  wanted  it  till  now." 

Having  reached  the  American  shore,  Rankin  sought  help 


eankin' S   FIRST  SERMON   IN   AMERICA 


411 


from  on  high.  "As  I  am  now  by  the  providence  of  God 
called  to  labor  for  a  season  on  this  continent,"  he  exclaims, 
"  do  thou  O  Holy  One  of  Israel  stand  by  thy  weak  and  igno- 
rant servant.  Show  thyself  glorious  in  power  and  in  Divine 
Majesty.  Let  thine  arm  be  made  bare  and  stretched  out  to 
save,  so  that  wonders  and  signs  may  be  done  in  the  name  of 
the  holy  child  Jesus." 

The  first  Sunday  after  their  arrival  Rankin  preached  in 
the  morning  in  Philadelphia  and  Pilmoor  at  night.  Three 
days  subsequently  Pilmoor  went  with  Mr.  Wallace  to  a  place 
in  New  Jersey  called  Newtown,  where  he  "preached  to  a 
small  congregation,  met  a  little  society,  and  returned  to  the 
city."  On  Friday,  the  eleventh  of  June,  Rankin,  according  to 
Pilmoor,  left  Philadelphia  for  New  York.  The  same  day  he 
joined  Asbury  at  Trenton,  and  the  latter  says  :  "After  dinner 
and  prayer  we  set  off  together  for  Princeton.  On  Saturday 
we  reached  New  York.  Our  friends  there  having  previous 
notice  of  our  coming,  kindly  met  us  on  the  dock  where  we 
landed."  That  day  Pilmoor  met  the  children  in  Philadeljihia. 
Rankin  does  not  say  where  he  was  on  the  next  day — Sunday, 
June  13th — but  his  Journal  implies,  by  the  lack  of  any  state- 
ment to  the  contrary,  that  he  was  yet  in  Philadelphia.  He 
was  not  there,  however,  but  in  New  York.  Asbury  preached 
in  John  Street  in  the  morning  from  the  second  and  fourth  of 
Ruth.  "  During  the  sermon,"  says  Rankin,  "  I  was  led  to 
reflect  on  the  motives  which  induced  me  to  leave  my  native 
land  and  Christian  friends  and  brethren  and  cross  the  Atlan- 
tic Ocean  to  a  land  and  people  unknown.  I  could  appeal  to 
God  with  the  utmost  sincerity  of  heart  that  I  had  only  one 
thing  in  view,  his  glory  and  the  salvation  of  souls.  In  a 
moment  the  cloud  broke,  and  the  power  of  God  rested  upon 
my  soul,  and  every  gloom  fled  away  as  morning  shades  before 
the  rising  sun.  I  then  had  faith  to  believe  that  I  should  see 
his  glory." 

At  the  hour  of  six  in  the  afternoon  Rankin  opened  his 
ministry  in  New  York  with  a  sermon,  and  then  had  a  memor- 
able season  with  the  society.  "  The  Lord  was  in  the  midst," 
lie  says,  "  as  a  flame  among  dry  stubble.     Great  was  our  re- 


412 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


joicing  in  the  God  of  our  salvation.  This  has  indeed  been  a 
day  of  the  Son  of  Man."  Of  this  occasion,  Asbury,  who  was 
present,  writes  :  "  Mr.  Eankin  dispensed  the  word  of  truth 
with  power.  It  reached  the  hearts  of  many."  Captain  Webb 
was  also  in  New  York  that  day,  and  in  the  afternoon  he  and 
Eankin  and  Asbury  went  to  St.  Paul's  Church  on  Broadway 
and  received  the  holy  communion. 

The  next  day,  June  14th,  Asbury  preached  at  five  in  the 
morning  and  Eankin  in  the  evening.  "  The  Lord  was  in 
the  word,"  says  Eankin.  ''  T  spoke  my  mind  freely  and 
fully  to  the  society,  and  I  trust  not  in  vain.  One  thing 
struck  me  a  good  deal  this  day.  I  was  really  surprised  at 
the  extravagance  of  dress  I  beheld,  and  in  particular  among 

the  women." 

Pilmoor  preached  twice  in  Philadelphia  the  same  Sunday 
that  Eankin  and  Asbury  preached  in  New  York.  In  the 
morning  *'  the  congregation  was  pretty  large  "  in  St.  George's, 
and  in  the  evening  it  was  "  vast."  Pilmoor,  in  addition  to 
preaching  on  both  occasions,  met  the  society  and  concluded 
the  day  with  prayer  for  a  revival  of  the  work  which  he  de- 
clares "  at  present  is  exceedingly  dead."  The  next  day  he 
visited  "  the  people  from  house  to  house,"  and  in  the  evening 
he  preached  to  a  very  large  congregation  with  ''  more  liberty 
and  happiness,"  he  says,  "  than  I  have  felt  since  my  return 

from  the  South." 

Eankin  soon  discovered  that  a  good  work  of  grace  was  in 
progress  in  New  York.  "  I  had  an  opportunity  of  conversing 
with  many  of  the  members  of  the  society  in  private,"  he 
says,  "  and  had  reason  to  bless  God  that  I  found  several 
deeply  awakened  to  a  sense  of  inbred  sin,  and  earnestly 
seeking  deliverance  from  the  last  remains  thereof.  Others, 
who  had  been  resting  in  good  desires,  were  cut  to  the  heart, 
and  cried  out  with  tears,  *What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved?' 
Some  also  I  found  who  were  newly  awakened  and  desired  to 
be  admitted  into  the  society."  Asbury,  in  returning  to  New 
York  from  a  week  in  the  country  the  latter  part  of  June, 
notes  the  special  satisfaction  he  found  ''  in  the  revival  of  re- 
ligion which  has  lately  taken  place  in  this  city."     He  also 


SHADFORD'S   work   at  TRENTON,    NEW   JERSEY      413 

found  that  Eankin  "  had  been  well  employed  in  settling  mat- 
ters pertaining  to  the  Society." 

Captain  Webb  started  for  Albany  and  Asbury  for  New 
Eochelle  on  the  sixteenth  of  June,  while  Eankin  seems  to 
have  continued  in  New  York.  In  the  meantime  Pilmoor 
was  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  was  taken  ill  at  the  Inter- 
cession on  Friday,  June  18,  but  went  to  church  again  and  at- 
tempted to  speak  in  the  evening.  When  he  was  done  his 
weakness  was  such  that  he  could  scarcely  get  home.  He  be- 
came so  sick  that  there  was  but  little  hope  of  his  recovery. 
When  he  became  convalescent  he  went  to  Mr.  Supplee's,  at 
Methacton,  where  for  some  days  he  remained  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  familiar  scenes  and  friends  and  of  country  air. 
While  he  was  there  two  ladies  of  Philadelphia,  Mrs.  Shippen 
and  Mrs.  Hinderson,  went  twenty  miles  to  visit  him.  He 
was  also  gratified  in  receiving  still  another  visitor  there. 
"  My  dearest  friend,"  he  says,  "  Mr.  John  Wallace,  came  from 
the  city  to  see  me.  His  company  and  conversation  greatly 
cheered  and  comforted  my  mind." 

Shadford  went  to  Trenton  a  few  days  after  his  arrival 
and  labored  a  month  in  New  Jersey,  in  which  time  he  added 
thirty-five  persons  to  the  society.  He  was  an  awakening 
evangelist  and  greatly  successful  in  bringing  sinners  t-o  re- 
pentance. 

Asbury  left  New  York  for  Staten  Island  on  the  26tli  of 
June,  and  remained  there,  preaching  at  several  places,  until 
July.  He  and  Eankin  were  together  in  John  Street  on  the 
first  Sunday  of  that  month.  The  people  in  good  numbers  at- 
tended the  preaching.  "Many  were  touched  and  some 
greatly  comforted"  at  the  love-feast  which  concluded  the 
day.  *'  The  people  spoke  with  life  and  liberty,  and  in  par- 
ticular some  of  the  blacks."  Eankin  that  day  preached  at 
seven  in  the  morning.  "Blessed  be  God,"  he  writes,  "I 
found  freedom  and  tenderness  to  apply  the  word  in  a  par- 
ticular manner  to  those  who  were  groaning  for  pardon  of  sin 
and  for  purity  of  heart.  Brother  Asbury  preached  in  the 
evening  a  home  Methodist  sermon,  and  the  Lord  crowned  it 
with  a  divine  blessing."     Three  days  later  Asbury  preached 


414  THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 

to  a  number  of  soldiers  and  others  behind  the  barracks.     He 
complains  that  he  "had  been  grieved  by  the  false  and  de- 
ceitful doings  of  some  particular  persons."     In  an  interview 
which  he  had  two  days  later  with  Mr.  L.  [Lupton],  the  latter, 
he  writes,   ''was  pleased  to  say  'he  did  not  know  but  the 
church-door  would  be  shut  against  me,'  and  that  '  some  per- 
sons would  not  suffer  matters  to  go  on  so.' "     It  is  thus  appar- 
ent that  only  a  few  days  before  the  first  Conference  all  was 
not  tranquil  in  New  York  Methodism.     The  disturbances  ap- 
parently retarded  the  progress  of  the  cause  in  that  city,  as  the 
reports  of  the  number  of  members  at  that  period  would  indi- 
cate.    It  is  also  apparent  that  if  persons  wrote  to  Mr.  Wesley 
after  the  manner  that  Mr.  Lupton  spoke  to  Asbury  of  the 
state  of   things  in  New  York,  he  would  be  concerned  for 
his  charge  in  America.     Some  three  days  after  this  signifi- 
cant interview  with  Lupton,  Asbury  '^set  off  towards  Phila- 
delphia," where  he  was  to  sit  in  the  first  American  Methodist 
Conference. 


CHAPTEK  XXV. 


THE   riEST   METHODIST   CONFERENCE  IN  AMERICA. 


From  the  year  1744  Mr.  Wesley  assembled  his  preachers 
annually  in  conference.  In  imitation  of  the  Mother  Meth- 
odism the  American  preachers  gathered  in  a  like  capacity 
July  14,  1773.  In  only  seven  years  the  movement  begun  by 
Barbara  Heck  had  swept  from  the  Hudson  to  beyond  the 
Chesapeake,  and  northward  into  Boston,  and  now  in  devel- 
oping an  Annual  Conference  reached  a  higher  stage  in  its 
progress.  The  church  in  Philadelphia  Avhich  under  Joseph 
Pilmoor's  efficient  ministry  was  purchased  by  the  Methodists 
in  1769,  opened  its  portals  to  welcome  this  significant  and 
historic  convocation  that  marked  a  new  epoch  in  Methodism, 
for  bv  it  the  societies  in  America  were  united  into  a  conuec- 
tion  as  real  as  the  connection  in  England. 

The  Conference  was  appointed  to  convene  on  Tuesday, 
July  13, 1773,  but  it  did  not  open  until  the  next  day.  It  met 
while  the  first  controversy  which  the  new  movement  encoun- 
tered was  causing  irritation.  This  controversy  related  to  the 
conduct  of  the  work,  and  miglit  appropriately  be  called  the 
disciplinary  controversy.  Asbury,  no  doubt,  and  Pilmoor 
and  Boardman  likewise,  anticipated  the  assembling  of  the 
Conference  with  deep  interest,  if  not  indeed  with  profound 
solicitude,  as  the  matters  about  which  there  was  disagreement 
would  be  considered  by  it.  Asbury  failed  to  reach  Philadel- 
phia until  Thursday,  July  15, 1773,  which  was  the  second  day 
of  the  session.  He  left  New  York  four  days  previously,  and 
should  have  arrived  at  Philadelphia  at  least  on  Tuesday,  on 
which  day  Pilmoor  says  :  "  We  had  appointed  to  meet  in 
Conference  in  Philadelphia  and  several  of  us  met  at  our 
church  at  six  in  the  morning.     As  two  of  the  preachers  had 


416  THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 

not  arrived  we  agreed  to  adjourn  until  tlie  next  day.  At  seven 
in  the  evening  Mr.  Boardman  preached  a  most  excellent  ser- 
mon on  the  important  work  of  the  Christian  Ministry." 

Boardman's  sermon  on  the  eve  of  the  Conference  was  no 
doubt  salutary  in  its  influence.  He  was  a  man  of  a  sweet, 
loving  spirit  and  well  understood  the  delicate  and  responsible 
situation  which  the  Conference  was  to  face.  , 

Rankin,  Shadford,  and  Yearby  had  not  been  in  the  coun- 
try quite   six  weeks,  and   they  formed  a  third  of   the   as- 
sembly.    Webb  returned  from  England  with  them  and  was 
again  in  the  midst  of  his  fellow-toilers  in  the  American  field. 
Pilmoor  thus  describes  this  important  and  historic  synod  : 
"  Wednesday  morning  we  met  and  entered  upon  our  busmess 
in  the  fear  of  the  Most  High  God.     As  Mr.  Boardman  and  I 
had  been  shamefully  misrepresented  to  Mr.  Wesley,  and  Mr. 
Rankin  sent  over  to  take  the  whole  management  upon  him- 
self, it  was  expected  we  would  have  pretty  close  work.     Had 
we  given  place  to  nature  and  followed  our  own  temporal  in- 
terest it  would  probably  have  been  so.     But  we  considered 
and  preferred  the  interests  of  religion  and  the  honor  of  God, 
above  all  the  riches  and  honors  the  whole  world  can  bestow, 
and  were  determined  to  submit  to  anything  consistent  with 
a  good  conscience  rather  than  injure  the  work  of  the  Lord. 
In  this  spirit  we  were  kept  during  the  Conference.     We^  con- 
sulted together  under  the  tender  visitations  of  the  Almighty 
and  were  favored  with  the  presence  and  blessing  of  God.    So 
the  enemy  of  souls  was   disappointed,  and   all  our  matters 
were  settled  in  peace."     Rankin  does  not  speak  of  any  lack 
of  harmony  in   the   Conference.     "  We  parted    in  love,"  he 
says  in  his  Journal,  "and  also  with  a  fall  resolution  to  spread 
genuine  Methodism  in  public  and  private  with  all  our  might." 
A  pious  determination  to  sacrifice   personal  prepossessions 
and  prejudices  and  to  hold  conflicting  opinions  in  abeyance 
may  have  saved  the  young  Methodism  of  America  from  much 
injury,  if  not  from  disaster,  at  that  memorable  Conference. 

Asbury's  few  words  concerning  the  Conference  indicate 
that  disturbing  forces  were  there.  He  says  that  he  arrived 
in  Philadelphia  "  on  Thursday,  but  did  not  find  such  harmony 


asbury's   STRICTURES    ABOUT   THE   CITIES 


417 


as  I  could  wish  for."  He  declares  that  "  there  were  some 
debates  among  the  preachers  in  this  Conference  relative  to 
the  conduct  of  some  who  had  manifested  a  desire  to  abide  in 
the  cities  and  live  like  gentlemen."  He  also  makes  the 
further  declaration  that  "  three  years  out  of  four  have  been 
already  spent  in  the  cities."  Furthermore,  he  asserts  that 
*'  it  was  also  found  that  money  had  been  wasted,  improper 
leaders  appointed  and  many  of  our  rules  broken." 

At  this  distance  of  time  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  char- 
itable or  fair  to  place  in  a  permanent  record  such  reflections 
respecting  men  of  as  great  devotedness  and  laboriousness  as 
were  Boardman  and  Pilmoor.     They  did,  it  is  true,  concen- 
trate their  efforts  chiefly,  but  not  by  any  means  wholly,  in 
two  strategic  American  cities  until  they  were  reinforced  by 
Asbury   and   Wright.     In  each  of  those  cities   there  was  a 
considerable    society  with    a    church    edifice   in    debt.     In 
neither  city  was  the  property  deeded  to  the  society  until  a 
proper  conveyance  thereof  was  made  under  their  guidance. 
We  have  seen  how  again  and  again  Pilmoor  went  forth  into 
the  rural  parts  and  proclaimed  Christ  to  the  rustic  popula- 
tions before  Asbury  saw  the  American  shore,  and  no  doubt 
Boardman  did  the  same.     If  they  evinced  "  a  desire  to  abide 
in  the  cities,"  it  Avas  because  of   the  urgency  of  the  work 
there  and  not  from  a  vain  wish  to  live  like  gentlemen.     From 
the  writings  they  have  left,  and  the   traditions   respecting 
them,  it  is  quite  apparent  that  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  ivere 
gentlemen,  and  that  as  such  they  did  no   discredit  to  the 
cause  for  which  they  toiled  incessantly.     After  Asbury  and 
Wright  came  to  their  help  they  showed  no  inclination  to  con- 
fine their  labors  so  much  to  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  but 
went  forth,  one  southward  and  the  other  northward,  to  seek 
and   to   save   the   perishing.      Boardman  not  only  travelled 
to  New   England,  but   after   returning  thence   he   went  to 
Maryland.     Pilmoor  was  absent  a  year  in  his  southern  travels 
and  labors.     Asbury  did  not  make  a  journey  of  the  extent  of 
that  made  by  Pilmoor  until  he  had  been  in  the  country  more 
than  thirteen  years.      Nor  was  it  because  Asbury  pressed 
them  out  of   the  cities  that  they  travelled  abroad  over  so 
27 


418 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


many  provinces,  for  Boardman,  and  not  Asbury,  was  at  that 
time  in  control.  Pilmoor,  as  we  have  seen,  on  the  last  day 
of  April,  1772,  distinctly  says  :  "As  we  have  now  got  preach- 
ers to  take  care  of  the  people  that  God  has  graciously  raised 
up  by  us  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  and  all  the  adjacent 
places,  Mr.  Boardman  and  I  have  agreed  to  go  forth  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  and  preach  the  gospel  in  the  waste  places 
of  the  wilderness."  And  from  the  elevated  point  of  vision 
afforded  by  the  first  Conference  in  America,  he  was  able  to 
declare,  as  he  did  in  his  Journal :  "  It  is  now  near  four  years 
since  Mr.  Boardman  and  I  arrived  in  America.  We  have 
constantly  labored  in  the  great  work  of  the  Lord  and  have 
preached  the  gospel  through  the  Continent  for  more  than  a 
thousand  miles,  and  formed  many  societies,  and  have  above 
a  thousand  members,  most  of  whom  are  well  grounded  in  the 
gospel  and  savingly  converted  unto  God.  This  hath  God 
wrought,  and  we  will  exalt  and  glorify  his  adorable  Name." 
I  have  failed  to  discover  in  Pilmoor's  writings  one  word  which 
indicates  that  Asbury 's  words  or  example  in  any  degree  in- 
fluenced him  and  Boardman  to  go  out  from  the  cities  and 
prosecute  their  laborious  itinerancies  in  the  country. 

Asbury  informs  us  that  on  April  2,  1772,  he  came  to 
Philadelphia,  "  and  finding  Brother  Boardman  and  Brotlier 
AYright  there,  was  much  comforted.  Brother  Boardman 's 
plan  was  that  he  [Boardman]  should  go  to  Boston ;  Brother 
Pilmoor  to  Yirginia ;  Brotlier  AYright  to  York  ;  and  that  I 
should  stay  three  months  in  Philadelphia.  With  this  I  was 
well  pleased."*  Boardman's  plan  of  travels  for  Pilmoor 
and  himself  was  his  own,  and  Asbury  does  not  intimate  that 
he  had  any  relation  to  its  inception  or  formulation.  He 
merely  says  that  the  plan  which  left  AYright  in  New  York 
and  himself  in  Philadelphia  and  sent  Boardman  to  New  Eng- 
land and  Pilmoor  to  Yirginia  "pleased  "  him  "  well."  Board- 
man  at  that  time  made  the  American  appointments,  as  he 
was  Mr.  Wesley's  General  Assistant.  Pilmoor  and  Board- 
man,  however,  agreed,  as  the  former  says,  to  "go  forth  in  the 
w^aste  places ; "  and  in  making  that  argreement  they  were 

*  Asbury's  Journal,  Vol.  I.,  p.  26. 


IMPORTANCE   OF   CITIES  TO   THE   CHURCH 


419 


not,  so  far  as  appears,  affected  by  any  promptings  beyond 
those  which  came  of  their  own  zeal  to  cultivate  as  exten- 
sively as  possible  "  Immanuel's  ground." 

Why  Asbury  should  have  so  begrudged  two  chief  cities 
the  time  and  the  toil  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  had  given  to 
them  we  are  not  informed.  The  cities  certainly  were  not  less 
important  to  the  rising  Methodism  of  America  than  the 
sparsely  populated  country.  At  this  distance  of  time  it  seems 
to  have  been  a  wise  generalship  that  planned  and  wrought  for 
the  intrenchment  of  Methodism  in  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia. Powerfully  fortified  there  it  could  move  out  more  swiftly 
and  mightily  over  the  land.  The  fact  that  an  Annual  Confer- 
ence was  now  assembled  in  a  spacious  church  in  Philadelphia, 
which  was  secured  under  the  administration  of  Pilmoor,  and 
from  which  were  about  to  be  sent  forth  into  various  and  dis- 
tant quarters  flaming  heralds  of  free  grace,  ought,  it  would 
seem,  to  have  silenced  these  unwise,  if  well  meant,  criti- 
cisms. 

In  devoting  themselves  principally  to  two  chief  cities  Pil- 
moor and  Boardman  followed  apostolic  examples,  and  also  in 
a  good  degree  the  example  of  Mr.  Wesley.  Wesley  maintained 
headquarters  in  London.  "  The  Foundry  "  and  subsequently 
"  City-Eoad"  and  other  metropolitan  points  received  much  of 
his  attention  and  labors.  The  Church  of  the  Apostles  was 
chiefly  in  cities.  So  markedly  was  this  so  that  Kenan  was 
almost  justified  in  saying  as  he  did,  "  This  proselytism  was 
confined  to  cities.  The  first  Christian  Apostles  did  not 
preach  in  the  country."  Damascus,  Philippi,  Thessalonica, 
Corinth,  Ephesus,  Athens,  Rome,  Jerusalem,  are  conspicious 
in  the  records  of  Christian  propagandism  in  the  Apostolic  age. 
In  those  great  centres  of  life  and  thought  the  church  lifted 
her  banners  and  thence  advanced  upon  the  surrounding 
regions.  "  From  Athens  Paul  went  to  Corinth.  He  knew 
the  importance  of  great  cities.  Without  neglecting  smaller 
places  that  came  in  his  way,  it  was  always  an  object  with  him 
to  preach  the  Gospel  where  men's  minds  were  sharpened 
by  the  collision  of  numbers,  and  where  if  he  was  successful 
a  church  would  be  gathered  from  which  as  from  that  at  Thes- 


420 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


salonica,  *  the  word  of  the  Lord  might  sound  forth '  into  all 
the  region  round  about."  ^  It  was  a  joy  to  St.  Paul  that  the 
faith  of  the  Christians  in  the  great  city  of  Kome  was  "  spoken 
of  throughout  the  whole  world."  The  walls  of  St.  George's, 
it  would  seem,  must  have  silently  rebuked  the  criticisms  of 
the  urban  labors  of  Pilmoor  and  Boardman,  which,  accord- 
ing to  Asbury's  report,  found  expression  in  that  goodly  tem- 
ple at  the  first  American  Conference. 

With  Embury  no  longer  in  New  York,  and  Webb  absent 
in  England ;  with  Boardman  travelling  abroad  from  New 
York  to  Massachusetts  and  afterward  to  Maryland  ;  and  Pil- 
moor and  Williams  in  the  distant  South,  the  cities  seem  not 
to  have  prospered  greatly  during  the  year  following  the 
spring  of  1772.  While  these  preachers  were  away  Asbury 
and  Wright  remained  much  of  the  time  in  the  region  of  the 
Hudson  and  the  Delaware.  The  "  old  book  "  of  John  Street 
shows  that  Wright  labored  much  in  New  York  from  the  sum- 
mer of  1772  to  near  the  end  of  the  spring  of  1773,  and  Asbury 
was  also  considerably  in  the  two  cities  in  the  same  period, 
though  for  nearly  half  a  year  he  too  was  absent  in  Maryland. 
Boardman  was  in  New  York  a  part  of  the  year  that  preceded 
the  first  Conference,  and,  no  doubt,  he  was  also  somewhat  in 
Philadelphia.  Still  the  reports  of  the  number  of  members  in 
the  cities  show  a  decline.  At  the  close  of  Pilmoor's  first 
term  of  service  in  Philadelphia,  more  than  three  years  pre- 
viously, the  members  in  that  city  exceeded  the  number  that 
were  now  reported  there.  In  March,  1770,  Pilmoor  aflirmed 
that  there  were  182  members  in  Philadelphia  to  whom  he 
had  "  given  tickets  "  and  who  met  "  in  class  and  attended  to 
all  the  discipline  of  the  Methodists  as  well  as  the  people  in 
London  or  Bristol."  In  the  middle  of  July,  1773,  only  180 
members  were  enumerated  in  the  same  city,  and  precisely 
the  same  number  were  reported  from  New  York.  Before 
Pilmoor  departed  to  the  South  he  was,  as  we  have  seen,  very 
solicitous  about  the  troubles  in  Philadelphia  and  the  dimin- 
ished congregations,  all  of  which  he  attributed  to  Asbury's 
course  in  that  city. 

*  St.  Paul,  His  Life  and  Ministry,  by  T.  Binney.     London,  1866. 


TRIALS   IX   THE   XEW    YORK   SOCIETY 


421 


The  exercise  of  discipline  in  the  cities  about  which  As- 
bury held  rigid  ideas  seems  to  have  declined  with  the  absence, 
for  a  year,  of  Pilmoor,  Webb,  and  Williams,  and  the  consider- 
able absence  also  of  Boardman  and  Asbury.  Eankin,  v/ho  is 
reputed  to  have  been  a  strict  disciplinarian,  said  at  the  time 
of  the  Conference  of  1773  :  "  Our  discipline  was  not  properly 
attended  to  except  at  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  and  even 
in  those  places  it  was  on  the  decline."  It  appears  then  that 
discipline  had  previously  been  maintained  in  the  above  cities, 
but  when  the  regular  ministrations  of  Boardman  and  Pilmoor 
therein  had  mostly  ceased  it  suffered  "  decline." 

Eankin  was  in  New  York  prior  to  the  Conference,  and 
his  ministry  apparently  was  profitable  there.  He  was  ap- 
pointed to  that  city  at  the  Conference.  Peace  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  restored,  however.  Trials  such  as  Asbury  had 
experienced  there  appear  to  have  threatened  Eankin,  for  on 
the  last  day  of  the  Conference,  namely,  July  16th,  Asbury,  in 
his  Jom-nal,  wrote :  "  I  understand  that  some  dissatisfied  per- 
sons in  New  York  threaten  to  shut  the  church  door  against 
Mr.  Eankin.  Tf  they  should  be  bold  enough  to  take  this 
step  we  shall  see  what  the  consequence  will  be,  and  no  doubt 
the  Lord  will  bring  all  their  evil  deeds  to  light.  U  that  it 
may  be  for  the  salvation  of  their  precious  souls  !  " 

John  Street  evidently  was  not  closed  against  Eankin. 
After  he  had  entered  upon  his  work  he  met  the  society  on 
the  15th  of  August,  1773,  and  spoke  his  mind  "  plainly  on 
some  things  which,"  he  says,  "tended  to  hinder  the  work  of 
God,  and  in  which  I  sincerely  desired  to  see  an  amendment. 
If  love  and  harmony  do  not  prevail  among  leaders  and  peo- 
ple, it  is  impossible  for  the  work  to  prosper  among  them.  A 
party  spirit  has  greatly  hindered  the  work  of  God  in  this 
city.  I  long  to  see  it  torn  up  by  the  very  roots."  A  little 
over  a  fortnight  after  this  passage  was  written  by  Eankin, 
Pilmoor  heard  him  preach  in  John  Street,  and  only  *'  a  few 
serious  people  "  were  present.  Pilmoor's  report  of  the  state 
of  affairs  reveals  the  sad  fact  that  there  was  agitation  in  New 
York.  "My  heart  is  pained,"  Pilmoor  writes  September 
15,  1773 ;  "  my  heart  is  pained  to  see  such  a  change  in  this 


422 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN"   AMERICA 


city.  For  some  years  the  chapel  was  too  small ;  now  it  is 
large  enough,  and  is  very  seldom  filled.  All  this  is  owing  to 
the  wonderful  manner  in  which  our  affairs  have  been  con- 
ducted. O,  my  God,  look  in  pity  upon  us  and  revive  us 
again  after  the  time  that  we  have  suffered  adversity."  The 
divergence  from  the  ideas  and  methods  of  Boardman  and  Pil- 
moor  by  Wesley's  representatives,  who  entered  into  their 
labors,  was  evidently  not  agreeable  to  them  ;  and  it  was  not 
to  be  expected  that  the  flocks  which  they  had  nurtured,  and 
to  a  considerable  degree  had  gathered,  would  fail  to  share 
somewhat  the  views  of  their  beloved  shepherds.  Hence  the 
"  party  spirit "  which  Eankin  deprecated,  and  the  ungentle 
expressions  that  had  been  previously  called  forth  from  im- 
portant laymen  by  Asbury. 

We  have  already  observed  Asbury 's  assertion  that  it  was 
found  at  the  Conference  that  the  work  had  been  so  negligently 
administered  as  that  "money  had  been  wasted,  improper 
leaders  appointed,  and  many  of  our  rules  broken."  Where 
these  sad  things  happened,  or  whether  they  were  general,  As- 
bury does  not  say.  Too  much  pastoral  attention  to  the  cities 
and  defective  discipline  in  the  societies  were  the  things  con- 
cerning which  he,  from  the  first  month  of  his  appearance  in 
the  field,  "  cried  aloud  and  spared  not."  When  Eankin  ar- 
rived Asbury  hailed  him  "  as  a  disciplinarian." 

Kespecting  these  disagreements  but  one  side  has  hitherto 
been  heard.  Methodist  historians  have  treated  them  ex 
parte :  and  necessarily  so,  because  no  voice  issued  from  the 
other  side.  After  this  long  silence  Joseph  Pilmoor's  voice 
is  heard,  and  its  utterances  are  pertinent  and  emphatic.  Dr. 
Bangs,  in  his  "History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church," 
says :  "  It  seems  that  notwithstanding  the  vigilance  of  Mr. 
Asbury  in  correcting  those  abuses  which  had  arisen  from  the 
laxity  with  which  discipline  had  been  administered,  many 
disorders  still  existed  for  which  an  adequate  remedy  had  not 
been  provided.  These  things  had  been  communicated  to 
Ui\  AYeslev,  and  he  therefore  clothed  Mr.  Eankin  with  pow- 
ers  superior  to  any  which  had  been  vested  in  his  prede- 
cessors in  office,  in  the  faithful  exercise  of  which  he  set  him- 


FIRST   CONTROVERSY    IN   AMERICAN   METH0DIS3I      423 


self  to  purifying  the  societies  from  corrupt  members  and 
restoring  things  to  order."  Dr.  Abel  Stevens,  in  treating  of 
the  first  American  Conference  in  his  "  History  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,"  says :  "  The  preachers  had  formed 
societies  without  classes.  The  exact  discipline  of  English 
Methodism  had  not,  in  fact,  been  yet  fully  introduced  into 
America.  Asbury  labored  hard  to  conform  the  American  so- 
cieties to  Wesley's  model,  but  had  met  with  no  little  resist- 
ance from  preachers  and  laymen.  Eankin  had  been  sent  out 
for  this  purpose." 

Now,  had  Pilmoor  read  these  passages  in  prophetic  vision 
the  greater  part  of  a  century  before  they  were  written  he 
could  scarcely  have  replied  to  them  more  advantageously  for 
himself  and  Boardman  than  he  has  done. 

I  will  now  present  in  his  own  language  what  he  says  in 
relation  to  the  matters  mentioned  by  Bangs  and  Stevens. 
In  the  last  week  of  March,  1770,  Pilmoor  wrote  in  his  Journal 
thus  :  "In  Philadelphia  there  are  now  182  in  society  to  whom 
I  have  given  tickets,  and  they  meet  in  class  and  attend  to  all 
the  discipline  of  the  Methodists  as  well  as  the  people  in  Lon- 
don or  Bristol.     This  is  God's  own  work." 

In  January,  1771,  Pilmoor  was  in  New  York,  enjoying  a 
gracious  revival  season.  On  the  28th  of  that  month  he  says : 
"  I  began  the  visitation  of  the  classes,  and  found  much  cause 
for  thankfulness  on  their  account.  The  Methodists  in  New 
York  are  not  one  whit  behind  their  brethren  in  Europe,  but 
in  many  respects  before  them.  This  hath  God  wrought." 
Six  months  later,  and  also  six  months  before  Asbury  arrived 
on  these  shores,  Pilmoor  in  New  York,  July  27,  1771,  said : 
"  I  was  comforted  in  meeting  three  of  the  classes  in  the  even- 
ing. I  found  the  greater  part  of  the  members  in  a  prosper- 
ous condition,  and  going  on  in  the  name  of  the  Lord." 

In  July,  1773,  just  after  the  dissolution  of  the  first  Con- 
ference, Pilmoor,  in  Philadelphia,  wrote :  "  Mr.  Boardman 
and  I  had  been  shamefully  misrepresented  to  Mr.  Wesley, 
and  Mr.  Eankin  was  sent  over  to  take  the  whole  management 
upon  himself."  Thus  did  Pilmoor  by  a  recital  of  facts  meet 
in   advance   the   accusatory  allegations   respecting   his   and 


424  THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 

Boarclman's   labors   as  Methodist  preachers  and  disciplina- 
rians in  America. 

With  this  survey  of  the  first  controversy  in  American 
Methodism— a  controversy  which  claimed  the  attention  of  the 
first  Conference,  and  which  I  have  sought  to  present  in  the 
light  of  historic  truth— I  shall  leave  it  for  more  congenial 
themes.  As  I  dismiss  it,  however,  I  must  say  that  whatever 
difference  of  opinion  respecting  the  conduct  of  the  work  was 
honestly  entertained  by  Kankin  on  the  one  side,  and  by 
Boardman  and  Pilmoor  on  the  other,  did  not  prevent  them 
from  uniting  in  zealous  labor  for  its  advancement.  Eankin 
and  Pilmoor  wrought  together  in  New  York  soon  after  the 
Conference  of  1773,  and  Boardman  also  joined  Eankin  in  the 
work  in  that  city.  Eankin  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  kindly 
of  them  and  of  their  ministry  while  he  was  with  them.  He 
referred  to  the  simplicity  of  spirit  in  Pilmoor  "  that  made 
him  so  useful  when  he  first  came  to  America."  The  peace 
and  love  amid  which  the  first  Conference  closed,  continued 
with  Eankin  and  the  two  preachers,  who  were  nearly  four 
years  before  him  in  America,  until  Boardman  and  Pilmoor 
returned  to  England. 

One  of  the  subjects  that  received  consideration  by  the  first 
Conference  was  that  of  printing  books.  Methodism  at  that 
early  day  was  not  content  with  proclaiming  the  Gospel  orally, 
but  it  also  seized  the  press  and  made  it  an  adjunct  to  the 
pulpit.  Wesley  published  as  well  as  preached.  When  his 
first  two  missionaries  came  to  this  country,  they  brought 
books  for  the  use  of  the  people.  This  fact  is  shown  l)y  an 
entry  in  the  "  old  book"  of  John  Street,  of  March  31, 1770,  in 
wiiich  Mr.  Pilmoor  is  charged  "to  cash  for  books  sold, 
brought  from  England,"  twenty-two  pounds  and  eight  shil- 
lings?   Mr.  Wesley  laid  upon  all  his  preachers  the  work  of 

selling  books. 

Eobert  Williams  was  foremost  in  setting  the  Wesleyan 
printing-press  in  motion  in  America.  He  printed  some  of 
the  sermons  of  Wesley  as  tracts  and  scattered  them.  Philip 
Gatch,  in  Maryland,  in  1772,  received  a  deeper  religious  im- 
pulse from  reading  one  of  Williams's  tracts,  namely,  Wesley's 


WILLIAMS   AND   THE   PRINTING   PRESS 


425 


sermon  on  "  Salvation  by  Faith."  We  have  seen  that  he  put 
Methodist  books  into  the  hands  of  the  Eev.  Devereux  Jarratt, 
in  Virginia,  which  was  one  of  the  means  of  bringing  that 
powerful  evangelist  into  such  cordial  and  efficient  co-operation 
with  Methodism.  In  speaking  of  his  first  acquaintance  with 
the  Methodists,  Jarratt  says,  "  Mr.  Williams  furnished  me 
with  some  of  their  books."  Williams's  labors  in  this  sphere 
are  described  by  Jesse  Lee,  who  in  1774  was  admitted  by  him 
into  the  Methodist  society.  "  Eobert  Williams,"  says  Lee, 
"  reprinted  many  of  Wesley's  books  and  spread  them  through 
the  country  to  the  great  advantage  of  religion.  The  sermons 
which  he  printed  in  small  pamphlets  and  circulated  among 
the  people  had  a  very  good  effect  and  gave  the  people  great 
light  and  understanding  in  the  nature  of  the  new  birth  and  in 
the  plan  of  Salvation ;  and  withal  they  opened  the  way  in 
many  places  for  our  preachers  to  be  invited  to  preach  where 
they  had  never  been  before."  Thus  to  Eobert  Williams  the 
distinction  belongs  of  originating  book-publishing  in  Ameri- 
can Methodism. 

Of  the  six  rules  that  were  agreed  to  by  all  the  preachers  in 
attendance  at  the  first  Conference,  two  related  to  printing,  and 
in  one  of  them  the  name  of  Williams  is  indelibly  recorded. 
That  historic  body  bore  testimony  to  his  enterprise  and  zeal 
in  this  depaiiment  of  Wesleyan  propagandism.  The  germ 
which  he  planted  has  developed  into  the  vast  Methodist 
publishing-houses  of  our  day.  Those  two  rules  were  as  fol- 
lows : 

"None  of  the  preachers  in  America  to  reprint  any  of 
Mr.  Wesley's  books  without  his  authority  (when  it  can  be 
gotten)  and  the  consent  of  their  brethren." 

"  Eobert  Williams  to  sell  the  books  he  has  already  printed, 
but  to  print  no  more  unless  under  the  above  restrictions." 

Williams  had  no  voice  in  the  Conference  when  these  rules 
were  under  consideration,  as  he  was  not  there.  He  and  Will- 
iam Watters  were  in  Virginia  at  that  time,  and  it  appears 
certain  that  neither  of  them  were  north  of  the  Susquehanna 
until  the  close  of  the  summer  of  1773.  Lee,  however,  asserts 
that  unitv  in  the  book-work  had  become  necessary.     "  Not- 


426 


THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


WESLEY   IN   AUTHORITY   IN   AMERICA 


427 


\ 


withstanding  the  good  that  had  been  done  by  the  circulation 
of  the  books,  it  now  became  necessary  for  the  preachers  to  be 
all  united  in  the  same  cause  of  printing  and  selling  our 
books."*  Thus  the  connectional  idea  was  approved  and  en- 
forced bv  the  first  Conference  in  relation  to  the  use  of  the 
press.  The  practical,  far-sighted  wisdom  of  the  men  compos- 
ing that  Conference  is  herein  shown.  The  maintainance  and 
dominance  of  theii*  views  on  this  subject  in  the  denomination 
has  made  possible  the  immense  work  it  has  acheived  in  build- 
ing its  flourishing  religious  publishing-houses,  and  in  sending 
out  therefrom  over  the  country  and  the  world  a  varied  and 
holy  literature,  reminding  us  of  the  tree  in  the  vision  of  the 
apocalyptic  seer  which  bore  a  variety  of  fruit  perennially, 
and  whose  "  leaves  were  for  the  healing  of  the  nations." 

The  consolidation  of  the  Avork  of  printing  into  unity, 
which  w  as  accomplished  by  the  preachers  at  the  first  Confer- 
ence, contemplated  also,  as  Jesse  Lee  asserts,  the  division  of 
"  the  profits  arising  therefrom  among  them,"  or  their  applica- 
tion "  to  some  charitable  purpose."  The  direction  thus  and 
then  given  to  the  produce  of  the  business  yet  continues. 
This  action  by  the  first  Conference  in  unifying  the  publishing 
work  was  a  decisive  step  in  the  direction  of  founding  those 
great  book  concerns  which  have  attained  to  unrivalled  mag- 
nitude, and  yielded  results  as  beneficent  as  they  have  been 
vast.  How  mighty  and  far-reaching  have  been  the  effects  of 
the  causes  in  this  particular  w^hich  the  first  Conference  set  in 
operation !  No  doubt,  however,  Mr.  AVesley's  instructions 
were  the  guide  of  the  Conference  on  this  as  on  other  matters, 
yet  the  preachers  acted  by  agreeing  thereto. 

The  first  Conference  also  provided  a  Discipline  for  the 
American  Methodists.  It  was  not  voluminous,  but  it  fur- 
nished a  few  important  landmarks  by  which  to  steer  the  new 
Wesleyan  bark.  Since  that  Conference  the  discipline  of  the 
Methodist  Connection,  like  a  tree  full  of  sap,  has  been  grow- 
ing, while  useless  branches  have  been  removed. 

The  first  of  these  disciplinary  landmarks  w^as  the  decla- 
ration of  allegiance  to  Mr.  Wesley.     His  authority  was  ac- 

*  Lee's  History  of  the  Methodists. 


cepted  as  paramount.  The  first  Conference  answered  "  Yes  " 
to  the  following  questions  :  1.  *'  Ought  not  the  authority  of 
Mr.  Wesley  and  that  Conference  [Wesley's]  to  extend  to  the 
preachers  and  people  in  America,  as  well  as  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  ?  " 

2.  "Ought  not  the  doctrine  and  Discipline  of  the  Metho- 
dists as  contained  in  the  Minutes  ^  to  be  the  sole  rule  of  our 
conduct,  wdio  labor  in  the  connexion  with  Mr.  Wesley  in 
America  ?  "  They  furthermore  declared  that  "  if  any  preacher 
deviate  from  the  Minutes  we  can  have  no  fellowshi]^  with 
them  till  they  change  their  conduct." 

Thus  by  their  unqualified  declaration  the  Rev.  John  Wes- 
ley was  acknowledged  and  received  as  the  ecclesiastical  head  of 
the  Methodists  in  this  country.  "  At  that  time,"  says  Jesse 
Lee,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Methodists,"  "  the  Methodists 
in  America  considered  themselves  as  much  mider  the  direc- 
tion of  Mr.  Wesley  as  w^ere  the  European  Methodists  ;  for 
they  were  dependent  on  him  to  send  them  preachers  and 
such  directions  as  he  thought  best.  Of  course  the  preachers 
agreed  to  submit  to  Mr.  Wesley's  authority  and  to  abide  by 
his  doctrine  and  discipline  as  established  in  England.  This 
resolution  was  both  wise  and  prudent,  and  tended  io  keep 
them  united,  and  afterwards  it  had  the  same  good  effect 
among  the  private  members."  Thus  at  this  original  Meth- 
odist Conference  the  members  and  preachers  were  united  in 
connectional  bonds. 

Another  landmark  wdiich  the  first  Conference  established 
related  to  the  ordinances  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per. The  sacramental  controversy  wdiich  a  few  years  later 
threatened  the  disruption  of  the  American  Methodists  was 
projected  upon  the  Conference  of  1773.  Robert  Straw- 
bridge,  as  we  have  seen,  administered  the  sacraments  in 
Maryland  before  any  of  the  missionaries  whom  Wesley  for- 
mally appointed  to  America  went  to  that  province.  He  did 
not  by  this  course,  however,  violate  any  discipline,  for  Wes- 

*The  Minutes  referred  to  were  those  of  the  English  Wesleyan  Conference  which 
had  been  issued  annually  since  and  including  1744.  They  contained  both  rules 
and  doctrines. 


428 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


ley  had  not  yet  taken  charge  of  Strawbridge's  work  through 
his   chosen    deputies.     Therefore    Strawbridge   was   free   to 
formulate  discipline  for  himself  and  the  converts  he  gathered 
together.     The    scarcity   of   the  sacraments   in   some   parts 
seemed  to  make  it  imperative  that  the  Methodist  preachers 
should  administer  them  to  their  people.     To  do  so,  however, 
was  contrary  to  the  Wesleyan  order.     When  that  order  was 
formally  established  by  the  Conference  of  1773,  it  seems  to 
have  been  known,  or  at  least  believed  by  the  body,  that  Kob- 
ert  Strawbridge  would  not  regard  it.     Both  his  convictions 
and  practice  were  hostile  to  that  feature  of  Wesleyanism.    To 
prevent  the  spread  of  Strawbridge's  ideas  and  the  influence 
of  his  example,  the  first  Conference  adopted  the  following 
rule  :    "  Every  preacher  who  acts  in  connection  with   Mr. 
Wesley  and  the  brethren  who  labor  in  America,  is  strictly  to 
avoid  administeiing  the  ordinances  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper."     Though  in  the  Minutes  this  rule  appears  without 
any  qualification,  yet  Asbury  informs  us  that  the  Conference 
qualified  it  by  excepting  Strawbridge.     The  rule,  as  Asbury 
in  his  Journal  gives  it,  was   thus:    "No   preacher   in   our 
connexion  shall  be  permitted  to  administer  the  Ordinances 
at   this  time,  except  Mr.   S.,  and  he  under   the   particular 
direction   of   the  assistant."      Lee  says  that    "  none   of  the 
annual  Minutes  were  published  until  the  year  1785."     The 
first  Volume  of  Minutes  was  issued  from  the  press  in  1795. 
When  the  Minutes  of  the  first  Conference  came  to  the  types 
years  after  it  was  held  and  after  the  death  of  Strawbridge,  it 
was  no  doubt  thought  wise  to  omit  the  reference  to  him  in 
the  rule  concerning  the  sacraments  and  to  print  it  as  it  noAV 
stands.     "  The  necessity  of  this  rule,"  says  Lee,  "  appeared 
ill  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Strawbridge,  a  local  preacher,  who  had 
taken  on  him  to  administer  the  ordinances  among  the  Metho- 
dists without  the  consent  of  their  preachers,  who  at  that  time 
were  all  lay  preachers.     We  were  only  a  religious  society  and 
not  a  Church.     But  as  the   most  of  our  society  had  been 
brought  up  in  the  Church  of  England  (so-called),  and  espe- 
cially those  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  it  was  recommended 
to  them  to  attend  on  the  service  of  that  Church  and  to  par- 


TIIE  PREACHERS   STATIONED   AT  FIRST   CONFERENCE      429 

take  of  the  Ordinances  at  the  hands  of  the  ministers,  for  at 
that  time  the  Church  people  were  established  by  law  in  Mary- 
land and  Virginia,  and  the  ministers  were  supported  by  a 
tax  on  the  people.  In  many  places  for  a  hundred  miles  to- 
gether there  was  no  one  to  baptize  a  child,  except  a  minister 
of  the  established  Church."*  Hence  the  first  Conference 
directed  that  "all  the  people  among  whom  we  labor  be 
earnestly  exhorted  to  attend  the  Church  and  to  receive  the  Or- 
dinances there ;  but  in  particular  to  press  the  people  in  Mary- 
land and  Virginia  to  the  observance  of  this  Minute."  Lee 
says  that  "  the  greatest  objection  to  this  plan  was  that  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  clergy  of  the  established  Church 
were  destitute  of  religion." 

Only  two  other  regulations  were  adopted,  one  of  which 
was  that  "no  person  or  persons  be  admitted  into  our  love- 
feasts  oftener  than  twice  or  thrice,  unless  they  become  mem- 
bers ;  and  none  to  be  admitted  to  the  society  meetings  more 
than  thrice."  The  admission  to  these  meetings  of  persons 
who  were  not  members  was  one  of  the  things  alleged  against 
the  administration  of  Boardman  and  Pilmoor.  Now  a  limit 
to  the  attendance  of  such  persons  at  these  meetings  was 
authoritatively  fixed.  The  other  and  last  regulation  made  by 
the  Conference  was  that  "  every  preacher  who  acts  as  assist- 
ant is  to  send  an  account  of  the  work  once  in  six  months  to 
the  General  Assistant."  Kankin  was  now  the  General  Assist- 
ant, and  as  such  presided  at  the  Conference  and  stationed  the 
preachers.  The  stations  were  :  New  York  :  Thomas  Kankin. 
Philadelphia  :  George  Shadford,  to  change  in  four  months. 
New  Jersey :  John  King,  William  Watters.  Watters  did  not 
go  to  that  field,  however,  but  remained  in  Virginia  until  the 
end  of  the  summer,  and  then  returned  to  Maryland,  after 
which  he  went  to  travel  on  Kent  Circuit,  and  still  later  in 
the  Conference  year  he  labored  in  Baltimore.  King  was  in 
New  Jersey  at  least  once  in  that  year,  but  whether  he  did 
much  work  there  is  not  known.  To  Baltimore  were  assigned 
Francis  Asbury,  Eobert  Strawbridge,  Abraham  ^Miitworth, 
Joseph  Yearby.     Kichard  Wright  was  appointed  to  Norfolk, 

*  Lee's  History  of  the  Methodists,  pp.  47-8. 


430 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


and  Robert  Williams  to  Petersburg.  Such  was  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  laborers  at  the  first  American  Conference. 

Rankin  says  the  Conference  sat  Wednesday,  Thursday, 
and  Friday,  July  14,  15,  16,  1773,  and  that  seven  preachers 
were  present  beside  Boardman  and  Pilmoor.  Stevens,  in 
noting  the  arrival  of  Asbury  the  second  day  of  the  session, 
says  he  made  the  tenth  preacher  in  attendance.  This  asser- 
tion is  not  warranted  by  Rankin,  who  gives  the  total  number 
as  nine,  inclusive  of  Boardman  and  Pilmoor.  The  only 
members  of  the  Conference  who  left  any  account  of  it  were 
Rankin,  Pilmoor,  and  Asbury,  and  no  one  of  these  has  given 
us  the  names  of  the  preachers  who  were  present.  It  is 
knoTvn  that  the  following  named  men  were  there  :  Richard 
Boardman,  Joseph  Pilmoor,  Francis  Asbury,  Thomas  Ran- 
kin, and  George  Shadford.  Williams  and  Watters  were  not 
present.  To  obtain  the  nine  who,  according  to  Rankin,  were 
in  attendance,  we  must  take  four  names  from  the  six  follow- 
ing :  John  King,  Robert  Strawbridge,  Abraham  Whitvvorth, 
Joseph  Yearby,  Richard  Wright,  and  Captain  Webb.  Webb 
almost  certainlv  was  there,  but  as  he  was  not  to  be  stationed 
it  is  not  certain  Avhether  Rankin  included  him  in  the  number 
of  the  attendants  he  reported.  Pilmoor  was  in  Philadelphia 
before,  during,  and  after  the  Conference,  and  as  he  gives  no 
intimation  of  the  presence  of  either  Strawbridge  or  King  in 
that  city  in  the  summer  of  1773  it  seems  probable  that  they 
were  the  absent  men.  If  they  were,  the  personnel  of  the  Con- 
ference was  as  follows  :  Boardman,  Pilmoor,  Webb,  Asbury, 
Wright,  RankiD,  Shadford,  Yearby,  Whit  worth. 

Most  of  these  men  we  have  encountered  already  in  our 
narrative.  Of  Yearby  and  Whitworth  we  know  but  little. 
Yearby  came  over  with  Rankin  and  Shadford,  but  preached 
only  a  year  or  two  in  connection  with  the  Conference. 
Whitworth  was  an  Englishman,  probably  of  uncommon  elo- 
quence, who  preached  in  New  Jersey  in  the  summer  and  au- 
tumn of  1772.  His  chief  distinction  seems  to  have  arisen 
from  the  fact  that  he  was  instrumental  in  effecting  the  moral 
and  spiritual  reformation  of  the  famous  Benjamin  Abbott, 
who,  at  the  time  of  the  session  of  the  first  Conference,  had 


CHARACTER  OF   WILLIAM   WATTERS 


431 


not  begun  his  extraordinary  ministry.  Whitworth  lapsed 
morally,  and  Abbott  in  his  Life  refers  to  his  fall.  His  sin, 
it  is  said,  was  intemperance.  A  passage  in  Asbury's  Journal, 
July  23, 1774,  apparently  relates  to  Whitworth,  though  only 
initials  are  given.  It  is  this  :  "  A  letter  from  Mr.  R.  [ankin  ?] 
brought  melancholy  tidings  of  A.  W.  Alas  for  that  man ! 
He  has  been  useful,  but  was  puffed  up,  and  so  fell  into  the 
snare  of  the  devil.  My  heart  pitied  him,  but  I  fear  he  died  a 
backslider." 

The  name  of  William  Watters  appears  in  the  Minutes  of 
the  first  Conference,  although  he  did  not  attend  it.  Against 
the  claim  that  he  was  the  first  travelling  preacher  produced 
by  Methodism  in  this  country  stands  the  fact  that  Edward 
Evans  itinerated  and  died  in  New  Jersey  before  Watters  be- 
gan to  preach.  In  his  autobiography  W^atters  says  he  was 
the  "  first  American"  who  went  "  out  among  the  Methodists 
to  preach  the  Gospel."  Probably  he  had  not  heard  of  Evans, 
who  had  finished  his  course.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
Evans  was  not  an  American  by  birth.  He  certainly  appears 
to  have  begun  his  work  as  a  Methodist  preacher  here.  We 
have  seen  that  in  the  autumn  of  1772  Watters  went  forth 
from  Maryland  with  Robert  WilHams,  and  that  he  joined 
Pilmoor  at  Norfolk  the  eighteenth  of  November  in  that  year. 

He  was  born  October  6,  1751,  was  converted  in  Baltimore 
Countv,  Md.,  in  Mav,  1771,  and  was  in  the  itinerancy  from 
1172  to  1783,  when  he  located.  He  returned  to  the  ranks 
for  a  very  brief  time  in  1786,  and  then  again  in  1801,  remain- 
ing in  the  itinerancy  until  1806,  when  he  finally  retired.  He 
owned  a  considerable  farm  near  Langley,  Virginia,  where  he 
lived  in  comfort  above  forty  years,  and  there,  according  to 
the  record  in  his  family  Bible,  he  died  October  29,  1827. 
His  grave  is  not  far  from  the  house  which  was  so  long  his 

home. 

Watters  was  a  spotless,  zealous,  beloved,  and  successful 
Methodist  preacher.  His  voice  was  sweet,  and  his  manner 
quiet,  and  he  sometimes  greatly  moved  the  people.  He  was 
in  the  best  sense  a  popular  preacher.  The  Rev.  Richard 
Tydings  in   1812  travelled  Fairfax  Circuit,  Virginia,  within 


432  THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 

whicli  Watters  lived.     Tydings  says  Watters's  head  was  "  al- 
most as  white  as  wool.     Before  him  I  had  to  preach  about 
twice  or  three  times  every  four  weeks,  and  what  oppressed 
and  afflicted  me  most  was  that  I  had  to  lead  him  in  class. 
After  some  time,  discovering  my  embarrassment,  he  talked  to 
me  about  it  and  said:  'You  must  not  be  or  do  so.'     I  shall 
never  forget  the  answer  I  gave  him.     I  told  him  he  might 
talk  as  he  pleased,  but  it  was  utterly  impossible  for  me  to 
look  at  his  gray  head  and  feel  otherwise  than  I  did,  so  he 
turned  away  and  said  no  more  to  me  about  the  matter.     I 
never  heard  him  laugh  and  seldom  ever  saw  him  smile,  and 
thought  I  had  hardly  ever  seen  in  all  my  life  a  more  vener- 
able-looking man.     His  preaching  was  plain,  but  sound  and 
strong.     Notwithstanding  he  had  lived  many  years  in  the 
place^'where  I  found  him,  and  had  preached  much  at  home 
and  in  the  surrounding  cities— Washington,  Georgetown,  and 
Alexandria— no  man  was  more  acceptable  in  the  pulpit  than 
he,  or  could  command  at  all  times  larger  congregations."  "^ 
In'  regard  to  abstaining  from  laughter  Watters,  in  his  Life, 
(p.  41),  says  :  "  I  do  confess-  that  lightness  and  trifling  on  any 
occasion  ill  becomes  a  Christian,  and  especially  a  preacher  of 
the  gospel.     Let  others  plead  the  innocence  or  usefulness  of 
levity :  I  cannot ;  though  God  knows  I  am  too  often  betrayed 
into"it,  but  never  without  feeling  that  it  more  or  less  unfits 
me  for  that  deep  recollection  and  that  constant  communica- 
tion with  the  Lord  which  nothing  should  for  a  moment  inter- 
rupt." . 

George  Shadford  powerfully  assisted  in  advancing  the 
new  cause  in  America.  He  was  a  sturdy  champion  of  the 
faith  but  of  onlv  mediocre  ability  as  a  preacher.  Both 
here 'and  m  England  he  was  noted  for  his  power  in  prayer. 
Freeborn  Garrettson,  in  his  Semi-Centennial  sermon,  refers 
to  the  Conference  of  1777,  the  last  that  Kankin  and  Shad- 
ford  attended,  and  says:  ^'I  shall  never  forget  the  parting 
prayer  of  that  blessed  servant  of  God,  Mr.  Shadford.  The 
place  seemed  to  be  shaken  with  the  power  of  God."     The 

*  Sketch  of  the  Rev.  Richard  Tydings^s  Life,  appended  to  his  Refutation  of 
the  Doctrine  of  Uninterrupted  Apostolic  Succession,  p.  309.     Louisville,  1844. 


shadford' S   SUCCESSFUL   MINISTRY 


433 


historian  of  Methodism  in  the  city  of  Norwich,  England, 
where,  shortly  after  he  left  America,  Shadford  labored,  says 
"  he  was  mighty  in  prayer."  Herein  lay  the  chief  secret  of 
his  success.  His  discourses  were  simple,  methodical,  plain, 
clear,  full  of  Scriptural  phraseology,  and  delivered  with 
pathos.*  Lorkin,  in  his  "  History  of  Wesleyan  Methodism 
in  Norwich,"  declares  that  Shadford,  who  was  in  that  circuit  in 
1779,  "  was  a  most  alarming  preacher,"  and  he  adds  that  his 
*'  labors  were  generally  useful  and  acceptable  to  the  people. 
One  instance  of  the  fruit  of  his  ministry,  I  well  remember, 
was  a  man  of  most  infamous  character,  noted  for  his  extreme 
wickedness,  who  from  mere  curiosity  went  to  hear  Mr.  Shad- 
ford. He  was  deeply  convinced  of  his  sin  and  danger,  and 
soundly  converted.  A  short  time  after  he  was  taken  ill,  and 
died  happy  in  the  favor  of  God." 

Jesse  Lee  must  often  have  heard  Shadford  preach  in  Vir- 
ginia in  1775.  The  biographer  of  Lee  says :  "Mr.  Shadford 
preached  in  a  bold,  energetic  style,  searching  the  heart,  and 
stripping  the  sinner  and  false  professor  of  every  refuge  ; 
sometimes  proclaiming  the  law  from  Sinai,  and  then  point- 
to  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ." 

The  Kev.  Devereux  Jarratt  describes  a  great  revival  of 
religion  in  Virginia  which  broke  out  in  December,  1775,  but 
increased  to  greater  magnitude  in  January,  1776.  It  began  at 
neariy  the  same  time  in  three  places.  One  of  the  places  was 
in  Amelia  County  and  "  had  for  many  years,"  says  Jarratt, 
*'  been  notorious  for  carelessness,  profaneness  and  immoralities 
of  all  kinds.  Gaming,  swearing,  drunkenness  and  the  Hke 
were  their  delight,  while  things  sacred  were  their  scorn  and 
contempt.  Mr.  Shadford  preached  several  times  at  the  three 
places  above  mentioned  and  to  many  not  in  vain.  While 
their  ears  were  opened  by  novelty,  God  set  his  word  home 
upon  their  hearts.  Many  sinners  were  powerfully  convinced, 
and*  Mercy!   Mercy !'  was  their  cry." 

Shadford  was  appointed  to  Brunswick  Circuit,  Virginia,  at 
the  Conference  in  1775.   Shadford  "  found  there,"  says  Rankin, 

*  Life  of  Shadford,  in  Jackson's  Lives  of  Early  Methodist  Preachers,  Vol. 
VL     London. 

28 


434  THE   WESLEYAN    MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 

*' about  eight  liundred  joined  together,  but  in  a  very  confused 
manner.  When  Mr.  Shadford  took  an  account  of  the  societies 
before  he  came  to  the  Conference  in  1776  they  contained  two 
thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-four  persons,  of  whom 
eighteen  hundred  were  added  in  one  year.  Above  a  thousand 
of^'these  had  found  peace  with  God,  many  of  whom  thirsted 
for  all  the  mind  that  was  in  Christ."^  Shadford,  in  going  to 
Virginia,  was  dejected  in  spirit,  and  says  he  was  amazed  when 
he  first  began  to  preach  there,  "  for  I  seldom  preached  a 
sermon  but  some  were  convinced  and  converted,  often  three 

or  four  at  a  time." 

Mr.  Shadford  seems  to  have  returned  to  England  in  the 
spring  of  1778  with  Eankin  in  Captain  Parker's  ship.  He 
was  useful  in  the  ministry  there  after  his  return,  but  for  many 
years  before  his  death  was  on  the  retired  list.  He  died  . 
March  11,  1816,  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  his  age.  His 
last  words  were  :  "I'll  praise,  III  pi'aise,  111  praise." 

The  greatest  man  that  sat  in  the  first  American  Conference 
no  doubt  was  Francis  Asbury,  who  was  to  become  one  of  the 
grandest  heroes  of  modern  Christian  history.  Of  Pauline 
consecration,  he,  like  Paul,  was  destined  to  be  ''  in  labors 
more  abundant,"  and  daily  to  bear  "the  care  of  all  the 
Churches."  As  he  sat  in  Conference  with  his  brethren  his 
inherent  greatness  w^as  not  fidly  seen.  But  twenty-eight 
years  old,  there  had  not  come  to  him  the  varied  experience 
and  mature  w  isdom  which  were  to  render  him  so  eminently 
the  master  of  the  great  opportunities  which  in  the  course  of 
Divine  Providence  were  given  to  him.  He  was  to  shape  and 
impel,  to  a  success  then  undreamed  of,  the  movement  which 
had  brought  into  existence  that  humble  convocation  of 
Wesleyan  preachers  in  Philadelphia  in  1773.  Henceforth 
until  his  death  in  1816  his  genius  for  ecclesiastical  leadership, 
his  saintly  devotion,  his  imceasing  and  phenomenal  travels 
and  labors  were  to  become  a  part  of  the  history  of  American 
Methodism  and  of  American  Christianity. 

The  most  conspicuous  figure  in  this  historic  Conference 
was  Thomas  Kankin.      He  sat  as  chief  in  authority  under 

*  A  Brief  Narrative  of  the  Revival  in  Virginia,  pp.  30-31.     London,  1778. 


EFFECTS    UNDER   RANKIN'S    PREACHING 


435 


Mr.  Wesley.  Of  strong  character,  sound  intellect,  and  vig- 
orous adherence  to  his  convictions,  his  administration  was 
to  prove  successful.  William  Watters  heard  him  preach,  and 
says,  "  I  was  much  pleased  with  him ;  I  always  thought  him 
qualified  to  fill  his  place  as  General  Assistant  among  us,  not- 
withstanding his  particularities.  He  w^as  not  only  a  man  of 
grace,  but  of  strong  and  quick  parts."* 

Had  he  remained  here  without  displaying  his  hostility  to 
the  American  war  Eankin  w^ould  almost  certainly  have  con- 
tinued in  authority,  and  in  that  case  Asbury  would  not  have 
come  to  the  superintendency  in  1784.  His  departure,  together 
with  that  of  the  other  English  preachers  from  this  country, 
gave  to  Asbury  his  vast  opportunity,  and  left  him  in  control 
of  the  work. 

Kankin  was  a  preacher  of  good  abilities,  and  at  times  he 
was  very  powerful.  Pilmoor  heard  him  in  New  York  on  the 
first  Sunday  in  September,  1773,  and  remarked  that  "he 
seemed  to  have  liberty  and  power  in  dispensing  the  Word." 
Rankin  was  preaching  on  Sunday  afternoon,  June  30,  1776, 
at  Boisseau's  Chapel,  Virginia,  from  the  text,  "  T  have  set 
before  thee  an  open  door  and  none  can  shut  it."  In  the 
progress  of  the  sermon  hundreds  fell  to  the  ground.  Stream- 
ing eyes,  groans  and  strong  cries  that  drowned  the  preacher's 
voice  showed  the  intensity  of  the  emotion  that  shook  the 
congregation  as  a  forest  is  swept  by  a  tornado.  Rankin  sat 
down  in  the  pulpit  and  with  Shadford  observed  the  extraor- 
dinary scene,  which  continued  for  over  an  hour.  It  was 
with  difficulty  that  the  people  could  be  persuaded  to  return 
to  their  homes  as  night  drew  on.  f 

Notwithstanding  occasional  instances  in  which  he  wdelded 
rare  power  over  his  audiences,  Rankin  could  scarcely  be  called 
a  popular  preacher.  He  had  personal  peculiarities  that 
diminished  his  pulpit  attractiveness.  :t  The  most  striking 
traits  in  his  character,  according  to  his  biogi'apher,  were 
"sincerity,  steadiness,  and  sobriety."    "He  was  a  man  truly 


*  Waiters' s  Life,  p.  35. 

t  A  Brief  Narrative  of  the  Revival  of  Religion  in  Virginia,  pp.  30-31. 

X  Life  of  Rankin,  in  Jackson's  Lives  of  Early  Methodist  Preachers,  Vol.  V. 


436 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


devoted  to  God,  and  in  death  witnessed  a  good  confession. 
He  finished  his  course  with  joy"  *  May  17,  1810. 

Eobert  Strawbridge  proceeded  independently.  He  would 
administer  the  sacraments  according  to  his  own  plan  despite 
the  authority  of  the  Conference.  In  1778  the  Conference 
asked  the  following  question:  "Shall  we  guard  against  a 
separation  from  the  Church,  directly  or  indirectly?  "  The 
answer  given  was,  "  By  all  means."  Being  a  movement  in 
the  Church  of  England,  Methodism  directed  its  adherents  to 
obtain  the  sacraments  from  ordained  ministers  of  that 
Church.  Asbury  strongly  objected  to  the  course  of  Straw- 
bridge,  but  the  latter  w^as  unyielding.  *'  I  read  a  part  of  our 
minutes,"  says  Asbury,  "  to  see  if  Brother  Strawbridge  would 
conform,  but  he  appeared  to  be  inflexible.  He  would  not  ad- 
minister the  ordinances  under  our  direction  at  all."  Prob- 
ablv  it  was  because  of  this  that  his  name  appeared  in  the 
Mmutes  only  once  after  the  first  Conference. 

Strawbridge,  however,  was  to  the  end  a  Methodist 
preacher,  who  could  not  be  moved  from  his  loyalty  to  what 
he  believed  was  right.  In  the  summer  of  1781  he  died.  His 
convert,  Owen,  preached  his  funeral  sermon.  His  successful 
labors  as  a  founder  and  builder  of  Methodism  in  one  of  its 
chief  fields  have  made  his 


"  One  of  the  few,  the  immortal  names 
That  were  not  bom  to  die." 

Such  was  the  first  Conference  of  Methodism  in  America 
and  the  men  who  composed  it.  It  was  the  day  of  small 
things.  But  a  larger  field  and  greater  conquests  were  now 
before  the  rising  Church.  When  in  1778  Eankin  laid  down 
his  authoritv  and  sailed  for  Cork  he  left  behind  him  about 
six  thousand  members,  which  was  a  decline  of  nearly  one 
thousand  from  the  preceding  year,  which  loss  no  doubt  was 
due  to  the  war  of  the  Kevolution. 

*  Life  of  Rankin,  in  Jackson's  Lives  of  Early  Methodist  Preachers,  Vol.  V. 


THIRD  PERIOD. 

From  the  First  Conference  to  the  Departure  of 
boardman  and  pilmoor  to  england. 


Having  brought  this  history  dowTi  to  the  close  of  the  first 
American  Conference,  which  established  the  Methodist  con- 
nection in  America,  I  might  appropriately  lay  down  my  pen. 
But  two  of  the  foremost  instruments  in  bringing  forth  this 
important  result — Boardman  and  Pilmoor — continued  their 
ministry  in  this  country  nearly  six  months  after  the  close  of 
the  Conference,  and  then  they  returned  to  England.  For  the 
sake  of  completing  the  remaining  part  of  the  period  of  their 
labors,  I  shall  proceed  with  my  narrative  down  to  the  time  of 
their  departure  from  the  country. 

Pilmoor  remained  but  two  days  in  Philadelphia  after  the 
first  Conference  rose.  On  the  nineteenth  of  July,  1773,  he 
started  with  Henry  Newton  in  the  stage  for  New  York,  where 
they  arrived  in  the  evening  of  the  next  day.  He  had  very 
many  of  the  people  visit  him  on  his  return  after  an  absence 
of  over  fourteen  months.  Boardman  also  returned  to  New 
York  shortly  after  the  Conference,  and  on  Sunday,  the  first 
of  August,  Pilmoor  asserts  that  "  Mr.  Boardman  preached  a 
profitable  sermon  on  Walking  with  God."  The  next  day 
Eankin,  Boardman,  and  Pilmoor  dined  with  a  Mr.  Vanhorne, 
who  was  accustomed  to  entertain  Mr.  Whitefield.  That  after- 
noon Pilmoor  visited  a  young  man  in  the  jail  who  was  under 
sentence  of  death,  and  who  acknowledged  his  wretchedness 
with  tears.  Pilmoor  "  spoke  to  him  of  the  heinousness  of  sin, 
prayed  with  him  and  left  him  to  the  Mercy  of  the  great  High 
Priest."  The  following  Sabbath  Eankin  preached  in  John 
Street,  morning  and  evening ;  Pilmoor  was  not  present  on  ac- 
count of  a  severe  ague  and  fever.  The  next  Sunday  morning 
he  was  able  to  preach  in  John  Street. 


438 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


RANKIN    AND   PILMOOR   IN    NEW    YORK 


439 


Though  still  feeble,  he  started  for  the  country  with  Mr. 
Crook,  August  18,  1773.     They  went  on  board  Mr.  Smith's 
*'  boat  at  seven  o'clock,  and  about  ten  landed  at  his  home,  near 
West  Chester."     While  in  the  country  he  spent  a  night  at 
Philip  Bartow's.     Pilmoor  also  called  on  Mr.  Abrahams,  at 
New  Eochelle,  where  he  met  his  friend,  Mr.  Theodosius  Bar- 
tow, with  whom,  he  says,  "  I  am  closely  united  in  the  bonds 
of  brotherly  love."     Sunday  morning,  the  twenty-second  of 
August,  he  preached  to  "a  small  but  serious  congregation, 
and  in  the  afternoon  he  went  to  Mr.  Devon's,  where,  he  says, 
"  I  found  a  great  number  of  people  gathered  from  various 
quarters,"  to  whom  he  preached  the  word,  and  on  Monday 
preached  again.     Three  days  later  Mr.  Devon  accompanied 
him  to  Mr.  Bennett's,  where  in  the  evening  he  preached  to  a 
large  company.     The  following  day  he  preached  again.     On 
Sunday,  August  29,  he  had  a  small  company  iu  the  morn- 
ing, "  but  in  the  afternoon  the  people  flocked  from  all  quar- 
ters, so  that  we  had  the  largest  congregation,"  he  says,  "  I 
ever  saw  in  this  country  before.     When  preaching  was  over  I 
met  the  society  and  found  them  fully  determined  to  run  with 
patience  the  race  set  before  them."      The  next  day  he  went 
to  Mr.  Abraham's  and  the  following  morning  "  set  out  pretty 
early  and  reached  New  York  in  time  to  preach  iu  the  evening." 
The  next  evening  Eankin  preached  there  to  a  few  people. 
Pilmoor  deplored  the  effect  of  the  change  in  the  adminis- 
tration in  New  York,   which  was  shown  in  the  diminished 
congregations.     The  following  day  Pilmoor  visited  the  jail. 

The  third  of  October,  1773,  Eankin  left  New  York  City 
for  a  short  trip  in  the  country,  leaving  Pilmoor  in  the  city. 
The  ensuing  Sunday  Pilmoor  was  in  John  Street  in  the  morn- 
ing hour,  and  at  ten  at  Trinity  Church,  where  he  enjoyed  the 
sacrament.  At  six  Eankin  preached,  "and  seemed  to  have 
liberty  and  power."  Pilmoor  attended  Dr.  Ogilvie's  lecture 
at  night,  with  which  he  was  "  pleased  and  profited."  Dr.  John 
Ogilvie  was  then  fifty  years  old,  and  died  November  26,  1774. 
He  was  a  missionary  to  the  Mohawks  and  for  ten  years  labored 
in  behalf  of  the  Indians.  In  1764  he  was  appointed  assistant 
minister  to  Trinity  Church,  New  York.     The  evening  after 


I 


Ogilvie's  lecture,  Pilmoor  preached  in  John  Street  to  a  large 
congregation. 

September  eighth,  1773,  John  Wallace  and  some  others 
from  Philadelphia  arrived  in  New  York,  having  come  *'  an 
hundred  miles  to  visit  the  people  of  God."  The  ensuing  Fri- 
day was  set  "  apart  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  for  a  re- 
vival of  the  work  of  the  Lord."  "At  the  watch  meeting," 
says  Pilmoor,  "  we  had  many  to  join  with  us  and  found  it  a 
season  of  grace."  The  next  day  he  spent  "  an  hour  with  the 
rector,  who,"  he  says,  "  received  me  very  kindly  and  treated 
me  with  the  utmost  respect."  On  Sunday,  November  12, 
Eankin  preached  in  John  Street  in  the  evening,  and  Pilmoor 
"  met  the  society  ; "  then  Pilmoor  went  over  to  Paulus  Hook, 
now  Jersey  City,  with  his  "  Philadelphia  friends  in  order  io 
be  ready  for  the  stage  in  the  morning."  They  left  the  Hook 
about  four  on  Monday  morning,  and  at  night  arrived  at 
Princeton.  Tuesday  Pilmoor  stopped  at  Trenton,  New  Jer- 
sey, to  visit  the  society  and  preached  there  three  times.  In 
the  evening  of  his  arrival  he  "  preached  in  the  shell  of  the 
new  chapel  in  Trenton,  and  many  of  the  hearers  seemed 
deeply  affected  with  the  word.  The  next  night  [Wednesday] 
the  congregation  was  much  larger,  and  the  power  of  God  was 
present  to  heal  the  broken-hearted."  Thursday  he  preached 
again  in  Trenton. 

It  is  thus  made  apparent  that  in  the  middle  of  September, 
1773,  the  chapel  at  Trenton,  though  unfinished,  was  used  for 
preaching.  The  indefiniteness  of  Asbury's  journalistic  records 
detract  from  their  value.  Asbury  says  that  he  was  iu  New  Jer- 
sey from  April  17  to  the  22nd,  and  in  that  time  he  saw  "  the 
foundation  laid  of  a  new  preaching  house  35  feet  by  30 ; "  but 
he  does  not  indicate  the  place,  nor  does  he  intimate  in  what  lo- 
cality he  was  in  any  of  the  days  that  he  then  spent  in  New  Jer- 
sey. Now,  we  learn  from  Pilmoor  that  it  must  have  been  at 
Trenton  that  he  saw  the  foundation  of  a  chapel  laid,  for  it  no 
doubt  was  in  the  structure  reared  upon  that  foundation  that  Pil- 
moor preached  at  Trenton  five  months  later.  The  church  at 
Trenton,  therefore,  was  the  first  that  was  built  by  the  Method- 
ists in  New  Jersey,  and  was  about  the  sixth  that  was  built  in 


440 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


America  prior  to  the  first  Conference.  Greenwich  Church,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  built  by  the  people  of  that  community  two 
years  earher,  and  was  served  by  Edward  Evans,  a  Methodist 
preacher,  but  it  belonged  chiefly  to  EpiscopaUans,  and  after 
Mr.  Evans's  death  the  Methodists  who  belonged  to  the  society 
went  out  from  the  edifice.  On  Friday,  the  seventeenth  of  Sep- 
tember, says  Pilmoor,  "  I  took  leave  of  the  dear  people  of  Tren- 
ton, went  on  with  the  stage  to  Bristol,  and  crossed  over  the  ferry 
to  visit  the  city  of  Burlington."  He  preached  in  the  evening 
in  the  court-house  in  Burlington,  and  also  the  next  evening. 
On  Sunday  morning  at  ten  o'clock  he  had  another  meeting, 
and  at  four  he  met  the  society  which  was  formed  by  Captain 
Webb  nearly  three  years  previously.  Sunday  evening  he 
preached  to  the  largest  congregation  he  ever  saw  in  Burling- 
ton before.  "  My  soul,"  he  says,  "  was  exceedingly  happy  in 
speaking  for  God,  his  presence  filled  the  place,  and  the 
hearts  of  the  people  were  greatly  affected.  After  preaching 
I  spoke  to  them  of  the  nature  and  design  of  the  United  So- 
ciety, and  exhorted  them  to  share  in  the  blessings  of  it." 

The  next  day,  September  20, 1773,  Pilmoor  went  to  Phila- 
delphia, where  he  found  Shadford  preaching.  "The  dear 
people  flocked  about  me,"  he  says,  "  and  seemed  as  glad  as  if 
they  had  received  me  from  the  dead.  These  precious  follow- 
ers of  Jesus  never  vary  in  their  affection  for  Mr.  Boardman 
and  me.  Our  hearts  are  united  in  love."  Soon  after  this  he 
breakfasted  with  Mr.  Wilmer,  where  he  conversed  with  a  gen- 
tleman w^ho  thought  the  Methodist  preachers  had  *'  as  much 
right  to  administer  the  sacraments  as  to  preach ; "  and  won- 
dered how  they  could  be  satisfied  without  them.  The  lack  of 
the  sacraments  was  now  the  most  ominous  fact  in  the  newly 
established  connection.  That  night  Pilmoor  preached  in 
Philadelphia,  and  the  "  rest  of  the  week  was  taken  up  with 
study  and  visiting  the  people,  who  are  still  zealous  for  God, 
but  nothing  like  what  I  have  known  them."  He  says,  "  how 
apt  men  are  to  leave  their  first  love  and  to  become  cold  and 
indifferent.     O  that  God  may  rekindle  the  sacred  fire." 

Sunday,  September  26,  Pilmoor  was  greatly  blest  in  Phila- 
delphia '•  both  in  hearing  and  preaching."    The  next  day  he  at- 


WILLIAMS   IN   PHILADELPHIA   AND   NEW   JERSEY      441 


tended  the  "  Friends'  meeting  and  was  enabled  to  worship 
God  in  the  Spirit,"  and  at  night  he  "  preached  the  gospel  of 
the  kingdom."  The  next  day  he  visited  "  the  prisoners  in  the 
jail,"  and  preached  "  salvation  to  the  poor."  On  Saturday, 
October  2,  he  met  the  children  and  penitents.  The  next 
evening  he  preached  in  St.  George's  to  "  the  largest  congre- 
gation that  had  been  there  for  more  than  a  year."  Pilmoor 
continued  his  zealous  toil  in  Philadelphia  until  Friday,  Octo- 
ber 7,  1773,  on  which  day,  he  says,  "  I  was  comforted  by 
the  arrival  of  Mr.  Williams  from  Virginia,  and  we  rejoiced 
togetlier  in  the  Lord."  The  following  Sunday  morning 
Williams  preached  in  Philadelphia,  "  and  gave  us,"  says  Pil- 
moor, "  a  useful  discourse."  Afterward  they  heard  Mr. 
Stringer  in  St.  Paul's,  and  Mr.  Duche  in  Christ  Church,  "  and 
at  night  St.  George's  was  crowded  with  hearers,"  to  whom 
Pilmoor  preached.  "  After  sermon,"  he  says,  "  God  com- 
forted om-  hearts  at  the  General  Society." 

He  went  into  New  Jersey  on  the  twelfth  of  October,  1773, 
and  Eobert  Williams  w^as  with  him  at  Mount  Holly,  where 
there  w^as  a  fine  congregation  that  day,  to  whom  Pilmoor 
preached  "in  the  Presbyterian  meeting,  and  deep  serious- 
ness," he  says,  "  sat  upon  every  face  while  I  explained  and 
enforced  these  words  of  our  Lord,  '  Be  ye  therefore  Eeady.' " 
After  the  sermon  "  Mr.  Williams  gave  a  profitable  exhorta- 
tion," says  Pilmoor,  "  and  then  we  went  on  about  seven  miles 
with  Mr.  Bond,  to  his  house,  near  Juliustown.  At  ten  o'clock 
the  next  day  I  preached  in  a  tavern  in  the  town,  and  had 
great  freedom  and  enlargedness  of  heart.  Afterward  I  w^ent 
on  with  Mr.  Bond  and  his  family  to  New  Mills  [Pemberton], 
where  I  preached  in  the  Baptist  meeting.  There  also  I  had 
great  comfort  in  preaching  the  gospel,  and  was  made  to  re- 
joice in  hope  that  I  did  not  labor  in  vain.  I  returned  to  Mr. 
Bond's,  where  I  spent  the  evening  in  conversation  with  sev- 
eral persons  who  had  been  to  hear  me  preach."  On  the  four- 
teenth he  returned  to  Philadelphia,  having  given  two  days  to 
New  Jersey.  Two  of  the  places  at  which  he  preached  have 
from  that  day  been  conspicuous  in  New  Jersey  Methodism — 
Mount  Holly  and  Pemberton.     Tt  has  been  thought  that  the 


442 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN    AMEUICA 


PILMOOR  IN   PHILADELPHIA 


443 


clmrcli  at  Pemberton  was  the  first  Methodist  sanctuary  in 
Kew  Jersey.  Pihnoor  has  told  us  that  he  preached  in  the 
chapel  at  Trenton  before  he  made  this  visit  to  Pemberton. 
If  there  had  been  a  chapel  at  Pemberton  he  would  scarcely 
have  preached  in  the  Baptist  meeting,  as  he  did.  Therefore 
it  is  apparent  that  there  was  no  Methodist  Church  at  Pem- 
berton in  September,  1773. 

Eankin  and  Pilmoor  both  were  in  Philadelphia  and  both 
preached  there  on  the  twentieth  of  October.  The  following 
Sunday,  the  26th,  Eobert  \Yilliams  preached  in  Philadelphia. 
The  next  day,  Monday,  Piankin  preached  at  six  in  the  morn- 
ing in  that  town,  and  in  the  evening  George  Shadford,  who 
was  about  to  leave  for  New  York,  preached  his  farewell 
sermon  in  Philadelphia.     The  next  evening   Pilmoor  heard 

luiiikm. 

Philadelphia  was  now  left  with  a  diminished  minis- 
terial force,  Shadford  having  departed  for  New  York,  and 
al30ut  the  same  time,  in  the  closing  days  of  October,  1773, 
liankin,  Williams,  and  Ebert  started  for  quarterly  meet- 
ing in  Maryland.  This  is  the  last  time  we  meet  Williams  in 
the  North.  He  had  made  a  round  in  New  Jersey  during  this 
visit,  but  soon  he  was  back  in  Virginia,  where,  in  1774,  he 
formed  the  first  circuit  in  that  province  and  began  to  receive 
Tiipmbers  into  society.  Within  two  years  his  wide  and 
laborious  travels  and  his  aggressive  and  very  fruitful  ministry 
ceased,  and  he  was  laid  to  rest  near  where  he  lived  after  his 
last  marriage,  between  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  in  Virginia.  In 
referring  to  the  departure  of  the  above-named  preachers  to 
Maryland,  which  was  Eankin's  first  journey  thither,  Pilmoor 
remarks:  "The  Lord  has  so  blessed  our  labors  in  that 
province,  especially  in  Baltimore  County,  that  we  have  now 
a  large  body  of  people  as  closely  united  as  our  brethren  in 
Europe,  and  as  lively  and  zealous  as  the  original  Methodists." 
To  this  result  the  devoted  and  indefatigable  Williams  greatly 

contributed. 

Pilmoor  continued  to  labor  in  Philadelphia,  visiting  from 
house  to  house,  meeting  the  children  on  Saturday  afternoons, 
and  attending   to  all  departments  of  the  work.      The   last 


Sunday  night  of  October  "we  had,"  he  says,  "one  of  our  old 
congregations."  On  the  second  of  November  he  heard  John 
Brainard,  brother  to  David  Brainard,  and  his  successor  as 
missionary  to  the  Indians.  His  discourse  on  the  revival  of 
religion  was,  says  Pilmoor,  "  very  profitable."  November  13 
he  saw  "the  Eev.  Mr.  Caldwell,  an  excellent  minister  of 
Christ  from  Elizabethtown,"  N.  J.,  to  whom  there  is  a  reference 
in  an  earlier  part  of  our  narrative.  Of  Mr.  Caldwell,  Pilmoor 
now  says :  "  God  has  greatly  honored  him  of  late  with  won- 
derful success  in  his  ministry  and  my  heart  rejoices  in  his 
prosperity."  After  meeting  the  children  on  Saturday,  Novem- 
ber 13,  Pilmoor  "  went  to  hear  a  young  man  who,"  he  says, 
"  is  lately  come  up  from  Maryland.  He  seemed  to  be  in  a 
measure  engaged  for  God,  but  nothing  like  so  zealous  as  I 
expected.  However,  my  heart  rejoices  that  the  Lord  is  rais- 
ing up  laborers  and  thrusting  them  out  to  proclaim  salvation 
in  the  deserts."  It  is  certain,  as  a  collation  of  statements  in 
Asbury's  Journal,  in  Gatch's  life,  and  in  Pilmoor's  Journal 
shows,  that  this  young  man  was  Philip  Gatch.  Very  soon 
after  Pilmoor  heard  him  Gatch  went  into  New  Jersey  with 
John  King,  which  fact  shows  that  King  was  at  this  time  in 
Philadelphia.  It  is  also  clear  that  Eankin  had  now  returned 
to  that  city  from  Maryland,  as  he  brought  Gatch  with  him. 

Eankin  was  ill  after  he  returned  from  Maryland,  so  that 
Pilmoor  had  to  fill  his  appointments  for  two  or  three  days. 
On  the  25tli  of  November  Pilmoor  "was  comforted  under 
Mr.  Eankin."  On  December  second  there  appeared  in 
Philadelphia  Eichard  Boardman,  who,  says  Pilmoor,  "  is 
dearer  to  me  than  most  other  preachers,  being  my  fellow 
laborer  and  companion  in  the  kingdom  and  patience  of  Jesus. 
At  night  he  gave  us  an  excellent  sermon  on  gospel  holiness, 
which  was  much  blest  to  the  congregation."  The  next  night 
Eankin  "  showed  the  nature  of  that  river  that  makes  glad  the 
city  of  God."  On  the  eighth  of  December,  1773,  Pihnoor 
went  to  Burlington,  New  Jersey,  and  preached  there  that 
evening  to  a  congregation  "considerably  large  and  deeply 
attentive."  Mr.  Boardman  being  anxious  to  see  him  in  New 
York  to  consult  about  their  return  to  Europe  he  "  set  off  early 


444 


THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


in  the  morning  with  the  stage  and  reached  Amboy  about  six 
in  the  evening."  The  next  day,  says  Pihnoor,  "  we  took  boat 
for  New  York.  The  wind  presently  rose  and  was  quite  con- 
trary. We  had  many  women  on  board  who  were  greatly  dis- 
tressed, especially  when  we  struck  two  or  three  times  upon 
the  shoals.  They  cried  out  most  lamentably  and  entreated 
me  to  persuade  the  Captain  to  turn  back.  In  our  distress  my 
heart  was  lifted  to  the  Lord,  and  he  gave  me  a  confident  hope 
that  all  would  be  well.  This  so  affected  me  that  I  spoke  to 
my  fellow-passengers  and  bade  them  be  of  good  cheer,  for  no 
harm  would  come  to  any  of  us,  but  all  would  be  brought  safe 
to  the  land  ;  and  so  it  was,  for  after  we  had  beat  about  for 
seven  hours,  during  which  time  we  were  in  the  utmost  distress, 
the  Lord  brought  us  all  safe  to  New  York,  and  I  had  the 
happiness  to  hear  Mr.  Boardman  in  the  evening." 

Captain  "Webb  and  Pilmoor  now  met  again  in  New  York, 
w^here  so  many  times  tliey  had  communed  and  toiled  and  re- 
joiced together.  On  Sunday  morning,  December  12,  1773,  the 
Captain  preached  in  John  Street  "  with  much  zeal  and  devo- 
tion, and  the  Lord  gave  his  blessing  to  the  word.  In  the 
evening,"  Pilmoor  adds,  "  our  chapel  was  crowded  as  it  used 
to  be  some  years  ago,  and  my  Master  was  with  me  in  preach- 
ing the  word  of  his  grace." 

This  is  the  last  time  we  shall  meet  Captain  "Webb  in  our 
naiTative.  He  lived  in  New  York  prior  to  his  conversion  and 
years  before  Embury  began  his  ministry  there.  Webb  was 
married  to  his  second  wife  in  New  York,  and  was  there  en- 
gaged ill  promoting  a  real-estate  enterprise — by  seeking  to  sell 
or  settle  a  large  tract  of  western  lands.  He  must  have  re- 
turned to  England  subsequently,  for  there  he  was  converted. 
He  was  not  a  stranger  in  New  York,  therefore,  when  he  ap- 
peared at  the  side  of  Embury  and  became  such  an  effective 
instrument  in  advancing  the  new  and  feeble  Wesleyan  move- 
ment in  that  city.  After  his  lengthened  and  successful  labors 
in  American  Methodism  he  amid  the  turbulence  of  the  Kev- 
olutionary  times  found  it  prudent  to  return  to  England.  He 
was  an  outspoken  loyalist,  and  he  aroused  antipathies  by  his 
indiscretions  respecting  the  war.     "  Tradition  sometimes  tells 


CAPTAIN   WEBB 


445 


truths  of  which  the  history  of  the  times  says  nothing,  and  it 
is  certain  that  in  the  reminiscences  of  the  aged  Methodists  we 
find  that  Captain  Webb  was  so  imprudent  in  speaking  against 
opposition  to  Britain  that  he  was  obliged  to  hide  away  in  the 
premises  of  a  reputed  Tory,  near  New  Mills,  [Pemberton, 
New  Jersey,]  for  some  months  before  he  could  make  his 
escape  to  England."  "^ 

After  his  return  to  England,  Webb  lived  for  a  time  in 
Bath,  where  his  devotion  and  zeal  shone  forth  in  their  old- 
time  lustre,  and  he  was  known  there  as  a  man  deeply  expe- 
rienced in  the  things  of  God.  Afterward  his  residence  was  in 
Bristol.  In  that  city  he  died  suddenly  in  the  night  of  De- 
cember 10,  1796.  He  was  a  true  "  hero  of  Methodism,"  and 
in  its  history  his  name  must  ever  be  illustrious. 

The  treatment  Pilmoor  and  Boardman  received  induced 
Pihnoor  to  write  :  "  How  wonderful  it  is  that  the  people  are 
as  eager  to  hear  Mr.  Boardman  and  me  as  they  were  the  first 
day  we  arrived  in  America.  Blessed  be  God  who  has  kept  us 
by  his  gracious  power,  so  that  we  have  not  done  anything  to 
hinder  our  usefulness  in  this  country,  or  make  the  people 
wish  to  have  us  removed." 

No  ship  being  ready  to  sail,  Pilmoor  returned  to  Philadel- 
phia. On  Sunday  evening,  December  19,  Eankin  preached 
in  that  city.  Pilmoor  visited  from  house  to  house,  which 
service  he  remarks  is  "  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  a 
Christian  minister."  He  still  showed  his  interest  in  young 
men.  As  he  was  going  to  St.  Paul's  in  the  evening  of  Decem- 
ber 22, 1773,  "I  observed,"  he  says,  "  three  young  men  stand- 
in  the  street  as  if  they  were  strangers.  I  went  up  to  them 
and  told  them  we  Avere  going  to  church,  and  begged  they 
would  go  with  us,  which  they  readily  consented  to  do,  and 
afterward  I  took  them  with  me  to  the  prayer-meeting."  Two 
days  after  this  Pilmoor  received  a  letter  from  Boardman,  in- 
forming him  that  a  ship  was  soon  to  sail  for  Bristol,  that  he 
had  taken  passage,  and  wished  a  final  word  from  Pilmoor 
about  accompanying  him  home.     "  This,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  put 

*  Methodism  in  West  Jersey,  by  the  Rev.  G.  A.  Ray  bold,  p.  197.     New  York, 
1849. 


44G 


THE  WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT  IN   AMERICA 


me  to  the  trial,  for  at  that  time  i  had  a  matter  of  great  im- 
portance under  consideration,  which  afforded  me  a  most 
pleasing  prospect,  both  as  to  the  conveniences  of  life  and 
the  advancement  of  the  Kedeemer's  Kingdom,  but  after  some 
deliberation  I  resolved  to  sacrifice  my  own  ease,  comfort,  and 
inclination,  and  return  with  my  fellow  traveller  to  Em-ope. 
Friendship  had  so  united  our  hearts  that  I  could  not  bear  the 
thought  of  letting  him  go  alone,  and  therefore  left  all  my 
concerns  unsettled  that  I  might  accompany  him  to  our  native 

land." 

The  last  Sunday  of  December,  1773,  Pilmoor  declares  "was 
a  day  never  to  be  forgotten.  My  heart  was  so  affected  by  the 
thoii<.4it  of  leaving  a  people  who  are  dear  to  me  as  life  itself, 
that  I  was  almost  overwhelmed  with  sorrow.  I  should  cer- 
tainly have  yielded  to  the  entreaties  of  my  friends  to  continue 
in  America,  only  I  was  determined  not  to  desert  Mr.  Board- 
man,  though  it  should  cost  me  my  Hfe.  God  gave  me  such 
comfort  in  him  that  in  the  evening  I  preached  my  farewell 
sermon  to  a  vast  multitude  of  weeping  citizens  with  much 
more  firmness  than  I  expected.  After  preaching  we  kept  a 
love-feast,  and  the  God  of  love  was  eminently  present  and 
filled  our  hearts  with  divine  consolation."  Of  this  occasion, 
Eankin,  in  his  Journal,  says  :  "  Brother  Pilmoor  preached 
his  farewell  sermon  in  the  evening,  and  we  concluded  the  day 
with  a  general  love-feast.  The  presence  of  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel  was  in  the  midst,  and  many  rejoiced  in  hope  of  the 
Glory  of  God.  Next  day  he  set  off  for  New  York,  whence 
Brother  Boardman  and  he  are  to  sail  for  England.  Yet  a 
little  while  and  we  shall  meet  to  part  no  more." 

On  Monday,  December  27,  many  persons  called  to  take  leave 
of  Pilmoor  at  Mr.  Wallace's,  "  a  family  for  whom,"  he  says, 
"  I  feel  much  more  affection  than  can  be  expressed."  About 
ten  o'clock  he  started  for  New  York.  He  stopped  at  Burling- 
ton, New  Jersey,  and  preached  in  the  court-house  the  same 
evening  "  with  particular  freedom  and  power,  and  took  leave 
of  the  dear  people  in  the  fulness  of  that  love  which  unites 
all  believers  in  one."  The  next  day  he  crossed  to  Bristol, 
Pa.,    l)ut   "the  snow    was   so  very  deep  no  wheel  carriage 


BOARDMAN   AND   PILMOOR  SAIL   FOR  ENGLAND      447 


could  pass."  Distressed  lest  he  should  fail  to  reach  New 
York  in  time  to  sail  with  Boardman,  he,  on  the  29th,  "  set  off 
with  a  Mr.  Bessanet  in  a  sleigh  for  Trenton."  He  arrived 
there  late,  but  several  people,  hearing  that  he  was  in  town, 
"  came,"  he  said,  "  to  spend  the  evening  with  me,  whom  I 
endeavored  to  build  up  and  establish  in  the  faith.  We  parted, 
fully  resolved  to  be  followers  of  God  all  the  days  of  our 
lives."  The  next  day  he  reached  New  Brunswick,  and  the 
day  following  he  came  to  New  York.  There  on  the  ensuing 
day — Sunday,  January  2,  1774 — ''  many  people  fiocked  to 
the  chajjel,  to  whom,"  says  Pilmoor,  "  I  preached  my  farewell 
sermon  with  feelings  too  big  for  expression,  and  commended 
them  to  the  protection  of  Israel's  Shepherd."  At  this  point 
PilmooTs  manuscript  is  mutilated.  I  gather  from  the  torn 
document,  however,  that  he  and  Boardman  that  day  sailed  in 
"  Captain  Clark's  ship."  In  this  connection  also  are  the 
words  "hospitable  citizens,"  "select  friends."  Thus  ended 
the  extraordinary  labors,  extending  over  more  than  four 
years  and  two  months  in  America  of  two  eminent  Methodist 
preachers,  the  first  that  Mr.  Wesley  sent  hither  to  cultivate 
this  great  western  vineyard. 

Pilmoor  did  not  re-enter  the  regular  itinerancy  immedi- 
ately after  his  return  to  England,  yet  he  was  not  idle.  He 
wrote  to  Mrs.  Thorn,  in  Philadelphia,  from  KingAvood,  under 
date  of  April  9, 1775,  a  letter  which  still  exists  in  the  original 
manuscript.  In  it  he  said :  "  Though  I  do  not  think  it  ex- 
pedient to  stand  in  the  same  degree  of  connection  with  the 
Methodists  as  I  have  done,  I  still  labor  in  their  part  of  the 
vineyard.  I  frequently  preach  five  times  a  week  and  am 
glad  of  an  opportunity  to  do  something  for  my  Master. 
How  my  future  days  may  be  employed  I  cannot  tell,  but  I 
am  determined  they  shall  be  laid  out  for  Christ  in  one  way 
or  another.  I  am  at  present  fully  resolved  to  go  forward 
after  Jesus  Christ,  and  expect  to  meet  you  by  and  by  either 
in  this  world  or  the  world  above  us." 

Pilmoor's  name  appeared  the  following  year — 1776 — in 
the  appointments  in  the  English  Minutes  for  the  first  time 
after  his  return,  and  he  was  stationed  in  London.     In  1777 


448  THE   WESLEYAN   MOVEMENT   IN   AMERICA 


and  1778  his  station  was  Nonvich.     In  1779  he  was  in  Edin- 
burgh ;  in  1780  and  1781  at  Dublin ;  1782  at  Nottingham  ;  in 
1783  at  Edinburgh  again  ;  in  1784,  York.    This  is  the  last  time 
his  name  appears  in  the  Wesley  an  Minutes.     Mjles,  in  his 
"  History  of  Methodism,"  in  speaking  of  Wesley's  "  Deed  of 
Declaration,"  by  which,  in  1784,  he  gave  a  legal  status  to  his 
Conference,  says  :  "  Joseph  Pilmoor  with  a  few  other  travel- 
ling preachers  were  greatly  offended  that  their  names  were 
not^ inserted  in  the  deed."     Dr.,  afterward  Bishop,  Emory  of 
the  Methodist   Episcopal  Church,  in  a  foot-note  he  inserted 
in  Watson's  life  of  Wesley  hi  1831,  said  this  omission  of  his 
name  "  in  all  probability  had  a  principal  influence  in  his  [Pil- 
moor's]  coming  to  America  again,  and  taking  orders  in  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church.     We  believe,  however,  that  he 
alwavs  continued  friendly  with  our  body,  and  lived  and  died 
an  evangelical  and  highly  respected  minister."     Emory  was 
a  pastor  in  Philadelphia  while  Pilmoor  was  rector  of   St. 
Paul's  Church  in  that  city,  and  therefore  may  be  considered 
an  authority  on  this  subject.     While  Pilmoor  labored  in  this 
country  as  a  Methodist  preacher,  Methodism  was  known  as 
a  religious  movement  in  the  Church  of  England.     He  re- 
ceived''  ordination  at  the  hands  of  Bishop  Seabury  of  Con- 
necticut, in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1784. 

Boardman,  after  his  return  to  England,  quickly  found  his 
place  again  in  the  Wesleyan  ranks.  In  1774  and  1775  he 
was  stationed  at  Londonderry ;  in  1776  and  1777  at  Cork  ; 
in  1778  his  name  does  not  appear  in  the  appomtments  ni 
the  English  Minutes  ;  in  1779  his  field  was  Limerick  ;  in 
1780  he^'was  stationed  in  London  with  Thomas  Coke,  John 
Wesley  Charles  Wesley,  and  Joseph  Bradford  ;  in  1781  his 
station  was  Limerick,  and  in  1782  Cork.  This  was  his  last 
field.  Eleven  davs  after  he  entered  it  he  went  to  his  reward. 
On  Eriday  morning  he  was  at  the  Intercession,  **  and  was  ob- 
served to  pray,"  says  Atmore,  -  with  an  uncommon  degree  of 
power."  About  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  that  day, 
October  4,  1784,  "he  expired  in  the  arms  of  two  of  his 
brethren  and  in  the  presence  of  many  of  his  friends." 

Great  and  greatly  fruitful  were  the  services  rendered  by 


DEATH   OF    EMBURY 


449 


those  saintly  men,  Boardman  and  Pilmoor,  to  the  New  Wes- 
levan  movement  in  America.  There  has  been  much  igno- 
ranee  respecting  them  in  the  connection  they  did  so  much  to 
establish.  They  have  been  somewhat  misunderstood,  and 
numerous  errors  have  been  promulgated  respecting  the  ris- 
ing cause  during  the  period  they  were  promoting  it  by  their 
diligent,  arduous,  and  successful  labors.  But  for  their  pres- 
ence here  from  the  fall  of  1769  until  the  beginning  of  1774 
the  history  of  Methodism  in  this  country  might  have  been 
different  from  what  it  is.  Well-poised  men  were  they,  dis- 
creet, cultured,  holy,  eloquent,  lovers  of  mankind  and  aflame 
with  zeal  for  Christ.  Their  work  was  wrought  in  love  and 
its  effects  are  immortal.  It  is  a  felicity  of  my  life  that  I 
have  been  permitted  to  delineate  their  characters,  to  describe 
their  work,  and  to  chronicle  the  events  of  Methodism  in 
the  period  of,  and  in  connection  with,  their  powerful  and 
apostolic  ministry. 

A  final  word  respecting  Embury  and  my  task  is  done. 
When  the  first  Conference  met  in  Philadelphia,  the  man  who 
by  his  preaching  originated  Methodism  in  the  New  World 
was  still  here,  though  not  at  the  Conference,  ilbout  one 
month  after  its  close  he  suddenly  ascended  to  his  everlast- 
ing rest.  In  Mr.  Embury's  private  book  of  memoranda, 
Samuel  Embury  wrote  the  following  sentence :  "My  father, 
Philip  Embury,  died  in  August,  1773,  aged  forty-five  years." 
Dr.  Stevens  gives  1775  as  the  year  in  which  Embury  died, 
though  he  says  the  year  is  doubtful.  A  manuscript  docu- 
ment in  possession  of  the  Troy  Conference  Historical  Society 
shows  that  Embury  was  not  alive  in  the  summer  of  1775. 
It  proves  that  a  conveyance  of  land  by  David  Embury,  Ex- 
ecutor, and  Margaret  Embury,  Executrix,  of  Philip  Embury, 
was  made  July  1,  1775,  to  Erancis  Nicholson.  This  sufli- 
ciently  corroborates  the  assertion  of  Samuel  Embury  respect- 
ing the  date  of  his  father's  death.  Embury's  memory  must 
always  be  associated  with  the  memory  of  those  who  have 
turned  many  to  righteousness  and  who  shine  as  the  stars  for 
ever  and  ever. 
29 


INDEX 


Asbury's  assertion  on  Pipe  Creek,  1. 

two  words  about  the  Pipe  Creek 
origin,  7. 

inaccimicies,  7,  8,  10,  11,  14,  15. 

omission  in  his  Journal,  8. 

historical  writings  indefinite,  9, 10. 

assertion  unproved,  15. 

parents,  281. 

first  sermon  in  America,  283. 
Asbury  contradicted  by  Jesse  Lee, 

16. 

does  not  dispute  Lee's  date  of  ori- 
gin, 24. 

arrival  of,  280. 

criticises  methods,  285,  286,  287. 

disposed  to  rule,  288. 

effect  of  his  agitation,  316,  317, 


318. 


at  first  Conference,  434. 
Ashgrove,   society    formed   in,    by 

Embury,  55,  272. 
Ashtoii,  Mr.,  came  hither  with  Rob- 
ert Williams,  104, 105, 106,  227. 
America,  state  of,  in  1769,  135,  136, 
137. 
its  religious  condition  in  1769, 138, 

139,  140. 
colleges  in,  136. 

Wesley  thinks   of  visiting,   143, 
144,  201. 
Annapolis,  Pilmoor  arrives  at,  342. 

preaches  at,  343. 
Abbott,  the  Rev.  Benjamin,  conver- 
sion, 389. 
relates  it,  389. 

powerful  preacher,  389,  390. 
Abbott's  death,  390. 
adventures,  393,  394,  395. 


BoARDMAN,  Richard,  offers  to  go 
to  America,  111. 

appointed,  112. 

his    arrival    in   America,    9,   10, 
130. 

his  early  history,  132,  133. 

worth  recognized  by  Wesley,  133. 

he  and  Pilmoor  walk  into  Phila- 
delphia, 130-34. 

opens  ministry  there,  141,  142. 

his  cane,  127,  128. 

makes  a  tour,  139,  140. 

goes  to  New  York,  142. 

letter  to  Wesley,  142. 

mentioned,  144,  165. 

as  a  preacher,  189. 

meets  Asbury,  285. 

starts  for  Boston,  321. 

forms  society  in  Boston,  321. 

his  long  tour,  401,  402. 

meets  Pilmoor  in  Maryland,  401. 

sails  to  England,  447. 

subsequent  history,  448. 
Brown,  Rev.  Dr.  George,  37. 
Barracks,  military,  78,  79. 

vicious  character  of  neighborhood, 
79. 
Brown  family  at  Pipe  Creek,  37. 

band  meeting,  the,  210. 
Boehm,  Henry,  his  lOOth  birthday, 
43. 

quoted,  43,  44. 
Bourne,  George,  28. 

his  History  of  American  Method- 
ism, 44,  45. 
Bell,  Thomas,  97,  98. 

quoted,  45. 
Benson,  Rev.  Joseph,  45. 


452 


INDEX 


INDEX 


453 


Bangs,  the  Rev.  Dr.,  45. 
his  account  of  Mrs.  Heck's  appeal 

to  Embury,  49,  50,  51. 
his  articles  in  Meifwdist  Magaziney 

60. 
his  life  of  Garrettson,  60. 
errs  as  to  the  arrival  of  Hecks,  51. 
his  several  accounts  of  the  origin 

of  Methodism  in  America,  60. 
in  opposition  to  himself,  63,  63,  64, 
65. 
British  troops,  musicians  of,  80. 
Bond,  the  Rev.    Dr.    Thomas   E., 
his  parents  converted   through 
Strawbridge,  101. 
Bunting,  the  Rev.  Jabez,  conversion 
of  his  mother,  127. 
becomes    a  Wesleyan    preacher, 

127. 
his  usefulness,  127. 
a  relic  of,  128. 
Burlington,  N.  J.,  Pilmoor  preached 
at,  206,  240. 
Asbury  at,  285. 
Pilmoor  at,  307,  308,  309,  386. 
Bordentown,     N.     J.,     Pilmoor 

preached  at,  206,  240,  272. 
Bohemia,  308. 

Baltimore,  Pilmoor  at,  333,  336,  341. 
forms  first  society  in,  337,  338. 
Pilmoor  leaves,  342. 
Asbury  at,  387. 
Pilmoor  returns  to,  400. 
Brickell,  Captain,  348,  349. 

Caldwell,    the    Rev.  James,  of 

Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  314,  315,  443. 
Crook,  the  Rev.  William,  27,  28,  29. 
Colbert,  the  Rev.  William,  34,  35, 

36,  37,  42. 
Cooper,  the  Rev.  Ezekiel,  quoted, 

43. 
mentioned,  77,  84. 
Coate,  the  Rev.  Samuel,  45. 
Cummiugs,  the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  W.,his 

account  of  the  Heck  family,  55, 

56.  57. 


Children,  167,  168. 
Classes,  the,  176,  247,  259. 
Cow  Neck,  273. 
Chestnut  Hill,  246,  276. 
Carolina,  North,  Pilmoor  in,  351. 
Charleston,  S.  C,  Pilmoor  at,  368, 

391,  392. 
Case,  the  Rev.  William,  76. 
Clark,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lucien,  quoted, 
97. 
Dr.  Adam,  208. 
Coke,  the  Rev.  Dr.,  quoted,  91,  96. 
his  and  Moore's  Life  of  Wesley, 

108. 
mentioned,  208,  236. 
Chapel  in  Maryland,  first  Methodist, 
its  exact  site  unknown,  90. 
new  and  lately  built,  91,  92. 
Pilmoor  and    Williams  preached 

there,  95. 
Asbury  there,  93. 
description  of,  94. 
Conference,  English,  109,  112,  113, 
115,  116,  117,  118. 
first  American,  415. 
talk  in,  about  cities,  416,  417. 
action  on  book  publishing,  424, 

425. 
action  concerning  discipline,  426. 
the  sacraments,  427,  428,  429. 
appointments  of  preachers  at,  429. 
Pilmoor  writes  to,  192,  193. 
Conyers,  the  Rev.  Dr.,  131,  132. 
Church  of  England,  138,  139. 
Methodist,   bought    in    Philadel- 
phia, 155. 
Churches  of  New  England,  140. 
Country,  Pilmoor  preaches  in,  173, 
257,  273,  274,  275,  276. 

Discipline  of  1787,  historical  sketch 
in,  9. 
of  1791-92,  expanded  sketch  in, 
11,  12,  13. 
Drummersnave,  26 
Dulmage,  Mrs.,  45. 
Dean,  Hannah,  45,  49,  175. 


Dawson,  Henry  B. ,  79. 
Dallam,  Richard,  91,  92,  325,  326. 
Josias,  brought  Williams  to  Spe- 
sutia  Church,    Maryland,    200, 
103,  199,  334,  338,  339,  340. 
Dr.  William  M.,  102,  199,  401. 
Duclie,  the  Rev.  Jacob,  253. 
offers  first  prayer  in  Congress,  254. 
turns  Royalist,  254. 
Delaware,  Methodism  in,  148,  270, 

271. 
Deer  Creek,  328,  386,  402. 
Davis,  Gressett,  377. 
brought  Williams  to  Petersburg, 
378. 

Evans,  John,  and  Evans  document, 
3,  4,  6,  7. 

date  of  his  death,  44. 

mentioned,  94. 

David,  3,  4. 

Samuel,  3. 
East  Chester,  273,  289. 
Embury,  Philip,  when  he  came  to 

America,  5,  39,  224,  225. 
Embury,  Philip,  1,  5,  6,  9,  10,  12, 
16,  17,  20,21,23,  29,  34,35,  36, 
37,  41,  42,  43,  45,  46,  47,  48,  49, 
50,  51,  52,  53,  54,  55,  56,  58,  77, 
78,  79,  80,  81,  83,  271,  338. 

his  emigration,  its  date,  5,  39, 224, 
225. 

his  history,  222,  223,  224,  225. 

why  he  emigrated,  39,  40,  41,  47. 

arrives  here,  48. 

a  school-master,  224. 

moved  by  Barbara  Heck  to  preach, 
49,  50,  51,  52,  53. 

preached  in  his  house,  53,  78. 

at  barracks,  78. 

precedence,  46. 

preached  at  poor-house,  80. 

preached  in  rigging  house,  83. 

removes,  222. 

his  conversion  and  marriage,  223 

advertises  as  a  school-master,  224. 

his  brothers,  225. 


I  Embury,  Philip,  graves  of  his  chil- 
I  dren,  227. 

j       his  death,  449. 
Emigrants,  German,  Irish,  company 

of,  in  New  York,  39,  40,  41. 
Embury,  Samuel,  56,  108,  226. 
Emory,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robert,  90,91, 
93,  340. 
wrote    in   part   a    biography    of 
Bishop  Asbury,  94. 
Evans,  Edward,  145,  146,  150,  230, 
256. 
his  funeral  sermon,  276,  277. 
his  character,  277. 
Exchange,  Boardman  and  Pilmoor's 
first,  178. 
second,  205,  206. 
third,  240. 

Fort,  William,  in  error  respecting 
Embury  and  Strawbridge,  5,  30, 
31. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  134,  136. 
on  Whitefield's  ministry,  124. 

Friendship  Church,  389. 

Garrettson,     the    Rev.    Free- 
born, 42,  150,  151. 
Gatch,  Rev.  Philip,  converted,  230. 

goes  to  New  Jersey,  443. 
Germantown,  Pa.,  296,  297,  298. 
Griffith,  the  Rev.  Walter,  188. 
Greenwich,  N.  J.,  church  at,  277, 
278,  324. 

Asbury  at,  283. 

origin  of  church  at,  324. 
Gloucester  Court  House,  N.  J.,  228, 

229,  231,  263,  275. 
Gier,  Philip,  223. 
Gunpowder  Neck,  328. 
Gunpowder,  Forks  of,  328,  331,  340. 

Hamilton,     Rev.     William,    on 
priorit}",  2,  3,  4,  5,  6. 
mentioned,  90,  94,  236. 
his  errors   concerning  King  and 
of  Pilmoor,  4,  5,  6,  333,  336. 


454 


INDEX. 


Heck,  Paul  and  Barbara,  47. 
their  removal  from  New  York,  54. 
remove  to  Montreal,  55. 
Barbara,      moved     Embury     to 

preach,  49,  50. 
breaks  up  a  card-party,  50,  51,  52, 

53. 

mentioned,  55,  56,  57,  58,  76,  78. 
her  appeal  to  Embury,  52,  53. 
her  death  and  character,  73  and 

76,  inclusive. 
Paul,  52,  54,  55,  56,  57. 
enlists  in  the  British  army,  55. 
his  death,  57. 
his  will,  71. 
the  Rev.  Samuel,   52,  54,   55,  56, 

57. 
John,  55. 
George,  52. 
his  account  of  the   Card-Embury 

allair,  52,  53. 
and  Hick  debate,  59  and  73,  inclu- 
sive. 
Henry,  Patrick,  136. 
Hick,  Paul,  59,  60,   61,  62,  04,  65, 
66,  71. 
mother  of,  little  known  of  her,  61, 
63. 
Hawley,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Botwick,  55. 
Hood.  John,  97,  98,  99,  100. 
Harlem,  N.  Y.,  191,  200,  272. 
Hart,  the  Rev.  Oliver,  208,  212,  213, 

214,  369. 
Hampton,  Va.,  348,  349. 
Horse-racing,  264. 

Intercession,    the,    held  by    Pil- 
moor,  166. 

John  Street,  New  York,  purchase 

of  site,  84. 
erection  of  chapel,  85,  86,  87,  88, 

89. 
dedicated,  89. 
its  chief  men,  82,  86,  87. 
members  communed  at  Episcopal 

Church,  82. 


John  Street,  New  York,  first  Meth- 
odist Church  in  America,  92,  96. 
a  right  deed  secured,   178,   179, 

180,  181,  182. 
Church  demolished,  81. 
foundation  of  second  church  in, 

81. 
dedicatory  sermon,  50,  51. 
Rankin  in,  421. 

Pilmoor's  account  of  things  in, 
421. 
Jarratt,   the  Rev.    Devereux,    138, 
139. 
opinion  of  Asbury,  288. 
of  Williams,  327. 
account  of,  375,  376,  377. 
instructed  in  Methodism  by  Will- 
iams, 379. 
Jamaica,  Captain  Webb's  home,  83. 
Pilmoor  visits  Webb  there,   185, 
272,  274. 
Jessup,  the  Rev.  William,  210. 
with  the  Methodists,  380,  381,  382, 
383. 
Jersey  City,  256. 

KiNGCESs,  Pilmoor  preaches  at,  171. 
King,  John,  arrival  in  America,  232. 

calls  on  Pilmoor,  232. 

preaches  in  Potter's  Field,  233. 

preaches  trial  sermon  in  Philadel- 
phia, 235. 

his  history,  235,  236,  255. 

his  death,  236,  237. 

Lee,  Jesse,  his  conversion,  383. 
account  in  his  Journal  of  the  origin 

of  Methodism  in  New  York,  16. 
opposes  Asbury's  dates,    16,    20, 

21,  22,  23. 
a  student  of  Methodist  history,  17. 
his  history  of  the  Methodists,  17, 

18,  19,  20,  21. 

his  accuracy  as  a  historian,  18, 

19,  22,  43. 

Laird,  Michael,  quoted,  26. 
mentioned,  27,  29,  30. 


INDEX. 


455 


Lupton,  William,  41,  86,  87,  88,  414. 
"  Log  Meeting  House  "  in  Maryland, 

43,  44. 
Lawrence,  John,  52,  56. 
Littlewood,  Billy,  converted,  80. 

his  character,  80. 

description  of,  94. 

when  built,  94. 

did  not  precede  John  Street,  96. 

mentioned,  92. 
Lednum,  the  Rev.  John,  90,  154. 
Love-feast  described,  174. 

first  in  Philadelphia,  175. 

in  New  York,  175,  194,  259. 
Lancaster,  Pa.,  320. 
Lebanon,  Pa.,  319. 


Mamaroneck,  289. 
Maryland,  Webb,  and  Strawbridge, 
100,  101. 
Strawbridge's  usefulness  in,  101. 
first  converts  in,  100. 
the  work  in,  150,  151. 
first  Methodist  sermon  in  Harford 

County,  199. 
Spesutia  Church,  200,  266. 
Pilmoor  enters,  325. 
Williams  in,  325,  326. 
noisy  meetings  in,  329,  330. 
King  and  Williams  in,  331,  338, 

385. 
Pilmoor  returns  to,  401,  402. 
McTyeire,     Bishop,    on     origin    of 

Methodism,  2,  90. 
Minutes  not  printed  until  1785. 

first  printed  in  a  volume,  7. 
Maynard,  Henry,  age  at  his  baptism, 

30,  31,  32. 
Maynard,  Henry,  44. 
Morrell,  the  Rev.  Thomas,  46. 
Merrill,  Bishop,  55,  56,  74. 
McKendree,  Bishop,  96. 
Methodism,  its    origin  in  America, 
1,  2,  3,  5,  6,  7,  9,  12,  16,  17,  20, 
21,  22,  23,  24,  25,  29,  39,  41,42. 
a  new  era  in,  133. 


Methodism,     Pilmoor's     important 
statement  concerning,  159,  160. 

not  a  church,  161,  162,  163. 

its  growth  since  1766,  57,  222. 

first  controversy  in,  415. 
Methacton,  229. 

chapel  dedicated,  230,  231. 
Moore,  the  Rev.  M.    H.,  235,  236, 

237. 
McRoberts,  the  Rev.  A.,  248,  337. 

New  York,   Boardman    and    Pil- 
moor, together  in,  182. 

first  Love-feast  in,  194. 

as  Boardman  found  it,  182,  183. 

churches  in,  183. 

slavery  in,  184. 

Pilmoor  in,  185. 

Boardman,  Pilmoor,  Webb,  and 
Williams  receive  the  sacrament 
in,  312. 

Whitetield  and  Pilmoor  meet  in, 
201. 

band  meeting  in,  210. 

people  of,  303. 
Newtown,    Long  Island,   202,  272, 

273,  274,  302. 
New  Rochelle,  272,  273,  289. 
Norfolk,  arrival  at,  of  Pilmoor,  344. 

theatre  in,  345. 

excitement  in,  346,  352. 

first  society  in,  356,  357. 

Pilmoor's  work  and  success  in, 
362. 

Pilmoor's  return  to,  396. 
New  Berne,  N.  C,  312. 

Owen,   Richard,    the   first  native 
preacher,  101, 145,  387,  388. 

Princeton,  N.  J.,  205,  206. 

Boardman  preaches  at,  240. 
Problem,  first,  in  this  history,  1. 
Pedicord,  the  Rev.  Caleb  B.,  99. 
Pilmoor,  Joseph,  9. 

quoted,  38. 

arrival  in  America,  10,  130. 


456 


INDEX. 


Pilmoor,  Joseph,  labors  in  Philadel- 
phia, 10. 

on  origin  of  Methodism  in  Amer- 
ica, 39. 

his  Journal,  90. 

goes  to  new  chapel  in  Maryland, 
91,  93. 

exercised  about  going  to  America, 
110. 

his  covenant,  110,  111. 

offers  himself  for  America,  111. 

appointed  with  Boardman,  113. 

his  early  history,  131,  133. 

in  Wales,  133. 

begins  his  ministry  in  America, 
145. 

preaches  at  a  race-course,  147. 

writes  to  Wesley,  147,  148. 

his  scholarship,  186,  187. 

the  man  and  the  preacher,  187,188. 

secures  title  to  St.  George's,  237. 
•  offered  ordination  and  salary,  239. 

hard  winter  journey,  250,  251,  300, 

301. 
talks  with  papists,  256,  263,  297. 
serial  sermons,  258. 
Quakers,  265. 

on  frequent  exchanges,  297. 
at  an  execution,  305. 
visits  jails,  303,  304,  355. 
goes  South,  318,363. 
at  orphan  house,  373. 
watery  adventures,  393,  394,  395. 
robbed  at  Alexandria,  399,  400. 
reviews  his  Southern  itinerancy, 

403. 
sails  for  England,  447. 
subsequent  history  of,  447,  448. 
Parks,  Peter,  mentioned  and  quoted, 

77,  79,  83. 
Peck,  Bishop,  128. 
Philadelphia,   Methodism    founded 

there,  98,  141. 
first  society.  99. 
first  class-leader,  99. 
results  of  Pilmoor's  first  term  in, 

176,  177. 


Philadelphia,  the  city  in  1769,  134. 
arrival    there  of  Boardman    and 

Pilmoor,  134,  141. 
Pilmoor's  first  Sunday  in,  147. 
Webb  preaches  in,  148,  149. 
Pilmoor's  early   success  in,  152, 

153,  154. 
a  church  purchased  in,  155. 
first  Sunday  in  it,  157. 
Whitefield  in  St.  George's,  204. 
his  work  in  Philadelphia,  204,  205. 
deadness  in,  252. 
first  Conference  in,  415. 
Boardman's    sermon    Conference 
eve  in,  415,  146. 
Pipe  Creek,  Asbury's  assertion  of,  1. 
Asbury's  two  words,  7. 
mentioned,  90. 
Pennypack,  Pa.,  178,  228,  230,  240, 

271,  272. 
Paulus  Hook,    now    Jersey    City. 

241,256. 
Poor,  the,  246. 

Portsmouth,  Va.,  345,  346,  349,  350, 
352. 
first  society  in,  356. 
Presbury,   Joseph,  quarterly  meet- 
ing at  his  house,  387. 
Pemberton,  N.  J.,  308,  441,  442, 445. 

Question  of  origin  in  debate,  2. 

Rankin,   the  Rev.   Thomas,   ap- 
pointed to  America,  404. 

his  early  history,  404,  405. 

his  first  visit  to  America,  408. 

first  labors  here,  411,  413, 
Roberts,  Dr.,  and  the  Maynard  tra- 
dition, 24,  25. 

and  Michael  Laird,  24,  25. 
Revolution,  the,  portents  of,  137. 
Revival  in  Philadelphia,  170. 

in  New  York,  243,  244,  246,  247, 
248,  249. 

in  Virginia,  248. 

in  Maryland,  388. 
Rush,  Dr.,  134. 


INDEX 


457 


Strawbridge,  Robert,  1,  2,  3, 
5,6,7,9,  12,15,  17,  18,  20,21, 
22,  23,  24,  25,  26,  27,  28,  29,  30, 
31,  33,  33,  34,  35,  36,  37,  38,  42, 
43,  44,  45,  46,  90,  94,  96,  97, 
149. 
preaches  in  Philadelphia,  171. 
his  death,  436. 

Mrs.  Robert,  3,  18,  35,  36,  37,  42. 
Shadford,    the    Rev.    George,    ap- 
pointed to  America,  404. 
sketch  of,  432,  433,  434. 
his  early  history,  27-29. 
his  first  exhortation  in  America, 

410. 
in  Philadelphia,  440,  442. 
Shillington,  John,  27-29. 
Sargeant,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  F. , 

97,  98,  99. 
Smith,  the  Rev.  Henry,  96,  300. 
Sparks,  Captain,  128,  141. 
Storm  at  sea,  129,  130. 
Ship  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  108,  138, 

130,  131. 
Stringer,  the  Rev,  Mr.,  146. 
Sam's  Creek,  90,  92,  94. 
Saxe,  the  Rev.  G.  G.,  quoted,  227. 
Staten  Island,  285,  301,413. 
Snethen,  the  Rev.  Nicholas,  sermon 
of,  on  Asbury,  290,  295,  inclu- 
sive. 
Savannah,  Ga,,  Pilmoor  at,  370,  391. 
Shirley,  the   Rev.  Walter,    circular 
letter  of,  370,  371,  314. 

Traditions,  Maryland  errors  of,  5. 
Tradition,  uncertainty  of,  33. 
Thrift,  the  Rev.  Manton,  43. 
Taylor,  Thomas,  his  letter  to  Wes- 
ley, 78,  82,  83,  85. 

writes  to  Wesley,  108. 
Theological  opinions  of  Boardman 

and  Pilmoor,  164,  165,  166. 
Thunder-storms,  197, 
Thorn,  Mrs.  Mary,  a  Baptist,  208, 

unites  with  the  Methodists,  208. 

persecuted,  209,  210,  211,  212. 


Thorn,  Mrs.  Mary,  a  class-leader  ex- 
pelled by  the  Baptists,  211,  212, 
215. 

Boardman  writes  to,  215,  217,  218, 
219, 

first    Methodist    deaconess,    215, 
216. 

marries  Captain  Parker,  216. 

Pilmoor  writes  to,  218. 

went  to  England,  216. 

appointed  class-leader  by  Wesley, 
217, 

meets  adversity,  220. 

her  labors,  220,  231. 

her  name  almost  forgotten,  221. 

her  reward,  221. 
Travels  of  the  preachers,  231,  232. 

trying  and  perilous,  367,  368,  393. 
Trenton,  N.  J.,  240,   272,   309,  386, 

315,  316,  410,  439. 
Toy,  the  Rev.  Joseph,  273,  273. 

Whitehead,  Dr.,  117. 
Wesley,  Mrs.  Susannah,  207, 
Webb,  Captain,  35,  38.  41,  80,  81, 82, 
83,  146,  243,  244,  257,  266,  313, 
444,  445. 
at  British  Conference,  385. 
his  contribution  to  John  Street, 

87. 
and  Strawbridge,  100. 
mentioned,  101,  413. 
welcomes  Boardman  and  Pilmoor, 

141. 
in  Wilmington,  148,  150. 
his  ministry  described  by  Pilmoor, 

168,  169. 
lis  services  to  Methodism,    168, 
239. 
Watters,  the  Rev.  William,  42,  145. 
conversion,  268. 
enters  the  ministry,  357. 
at  Norfolk,  358,  359,  360,  361. 
sketch  of,  431, 
Wakeley,  the  Rev.  Dr.,  erred  as  to 

Barbara  Heck,  59. 
Withrow,  the  Rev.  Dr,,  58. 


458 


INDEX 


Wrangle,  the  Rev.  Dr.,  98. 
Wilmer,  Lambert,  98,  99. 
Washington,  George,  136. 
Williams,  the  Rev.  Robert,  91,  95. 

his  arrival  in  America,  102. 

first  sermon  in,  102. 

Dr.  Dallam's  account  of  it,  103. 

his  hostess  and  her  absent  hus- 
band converted,  103,  104. 

in  New  York,  104,  108. 

goes  to  Maryland,  104,  106,  148, 
149. 

licensed  by  Wesley,  105. 

a  local  or  a  travelling  preacher, 
which  ?  105,  255. 

errors  about  him,  260,  261. 

;n  Philadelphia,  310. 

in  New  York,  311. 

as  a  preacher,  326,  327. 

death  of,  328. 

Lee  and  Pilmoor  on,  105,  106. 

and  Ashton,  106. 

mentioned,  35,  191,  196,  197.  198, 
199,  200,  231,  328,  357,  358,  359, 
360,  361,  362,  397. 

at  Petersburg,  377. 

success,  378. 

his  preaching,  148,  196. 

preaches  at  Spesutia  Church  from 
a  log,  199,  237. 

publishes  books,  424,  425. 

at  Mt.  Holly,  N.  J.,  441. 

preaches  in  Philadelphia,  442. 

in  New  Jersey. 

Wesley,  the  Rev.  John,  26,  27,  78, 

88,  98,  104,  106,  108,  111,  112, 

115,116,  117,  118,  119,121,122, 

123,  124,  126,  130, 131, 133, 142. 

letter  of,  143,  144,  146,  147,  160, 
161,  162,  163,  164, 138,  181, 186, 
192,  197,  201,  202,  217,  243,  370, 
371. 

his  attitude  toward  Boardman  and 
Pilmoor,  404,  405. 


Whitefield,   the  Rev.    George,  119, 
120,  252,  308. 
his  separation  from  Wesley,  121, 

122,  123. 
his  wonderful  eloquence,  123, 124, 

125,  126,  137,  191. 
in  New  York,  201,  202,  203. 
prepared  the  way  for  Methodism, 

124. 
death  of,  238. 
Wesley,  the  Rev.  Charles,  120. 
his  interview  with  Boardman  and 

Pilmoor,  125,  126,  163. 
-writes  a  hymn  in  America,  372, 
373. 
White  Marsh,  Pa.,  173,  229,  231,  255, 

299. 
West  Chester,  N.  Y.,  200,  272,  273, 
289. 
Pilmoor  goes  to,  201. 
Women  "  elect,"  208. 
Wilmington,  Del.,  148,  270,  271,  289, 
308,  402. 
N.  C,  366,  394,  395. 
Walters,  Henry,  a  memento,  340. 
Watch  meeting,  the,  in  New  York, 
244,  301. 
in  Philadelphia,  284. 
in  Norfolk.  397. 
Whitwoith,  the  Rev.  A.,  388,   389, 

430,  431. 
Williamsburg,  Va.,  347,  352. 
Wright,  the  Rev.   Richard,  arrival 
of,  282. 
criticised  by  Asbury,  323. 
preaches  at  Philadelphia,  284. 
mentioned,  308,  385. 
in  New  York,  322.  323. 
Witherspoon,   the   Rev.  Dr.  John, 
242,  262. 


Young    men   in  New  York,  245, 
248. 


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